Vin 2325 - A Brief History
Posted: Fri May 09, 2014 9:52 pmI thought it was about time I posted something about #2325 in here. A July '81 car with a black interior and manual transmission, I really don't know much about it before it reached our shores. What I do know is that it was sold by Superior Pontiac of San Antonio, TX and that by 1983 it was in the hands of Lone Star Liquidators in Houston.
After that it resurfaced in a classified ad in the June 1989 issue of Classic and Sportscar magazine, by which time it had been painted black and was being sold by Ted Vernon Collection in Miami for $10,500. I contacted Ted a while back and he told me honestly "When they were painted that usually meant they had been wrecked and repaired. It was cheaper to paint them than buy the body panels and do it right. We never fixed any cars. It's not what we do."
The man who bought it was Johnathan Marland and it arrived in Felixstowe in '89 where the paintwork was descibed as "very poor" which probably contributed to him having the car repainted silver.
He spent a lot of money on the car but ultimately, after the DVLA refused to let him register it with the number plate it's wearing in the photo (as he had failed to put it on retention) the car was left in a barn for a decade without ever being registered in the UK. Jason Welling bought the car in 2002, put it back on the road and in 2006 he had the car returned to bare stainless. That story can be found here: http://www.pjgrady.co.uk//GenericConten ... orean.html
I first saw the car in Wells in 2006 but it was February 2007 before I bought her. I've always tried not to be shy about using her and as a result she has seen race tracks, snow and the occassional AA lorry. She has also appeared in magazines, video games and on TV, somewhere along the way i've also tried little by little to make repairs and improvements but I guess that never ends.
Donington 2007...
Providing sound recordings for "Driver: San Francisco" in 2011
Charity Track Day at Snetterton 2012
After that it resurfaced in a classified ad in the June 1989 issue of Classic and Sportscar magazine, by which time it had been painted black and was being sold by Ted Vernon Collection in Miami for $10,500. I contacted Ted a while back and he told me honestly "When they were painted that usually meant they had been wrecked and repaired. It was cheaper to paint them than buy the body panels and do it right. We never fixed any cars. It's not what we do."
The man who bought it was Johnathan Marland and it arrived in Felixstowe in '89 where the paintwork was descibed as "very poor" which probably contributed to him having the car repainted silver.
He spent a lot of money on the car but ultimately, after the DVLA refused to let him register it with the number plate it's wearing in the photo (as he had failed to put it on retention) the car was left in a barn for a decade without ever being registered in the UK. Jason Welling bought the car in 2002, put it back on the road and in 2006 he had the car returned to bare stainless. That story can be found here: http://www.pjgrady.co.uk//GenericConten ... orean.html
I first saw the car in Wells in 2006 but it was February 2007 before I bought her. I've always tried not to be shy about using her and as a result she has seen race tracks, snow and the occassional AA lorry. She has also appeared in magazines, video games and on TV, somewhere along the way i've also tried little by little to make repairs and improvements but I guess that never ends.
Donington 2007...
Providing sound recordings for "Driver: San Francisco" in 2011
Charity Track Day at Snetterton 2012
