Good video on a member's AAR history

[JH27N0B]

Noel Automotive made this interesting video on the history of an AAR. 

[TX9AAR]

Thanks for sharing the video. I talked to the 2nd owner (Mike) after he watched the video and he gave me some additional information on the car that I didn't share in the video. When he purchased the car it had 5.38 rear gears and was running a solid lifter cam with .570 lift. Mike thought the car was running low 12 second times before he purchased it which was very good for a small block car in the 70's. He put a different 340 that was more streetable in the car. In 1984 he was the track champion in his class at Moroso Motosports park in the AAR.

[JH27N0B]

As a very long time T/A owner who also did a concours resto on mine, I was interested in the parallels, and the things different, in our experiences.
Mine I bought from a guy in the town just west of the town I live in now, and I grew up about 8 miles east.  When I was able to get my Mr Norms paperwork I found the first owner didn't buy the car until 1971, similar to your car.  He lived in the town just southwest of my town.  So other than all the years it was away in resto shop jail, it's been in a 9 mile radius of where it is now!
Where I envy you is your restoration shop experience with Kieth.  Mine went to a recommended shop in MI and ended in resto shop jail there for more years that I like to admit.  I had career setbacks and such over the years that set me back with getting it moved, so it sat, 175 miles from home.
It was the death of a niece in 2012 that really got me thinking I better do something soon whether I can afford it or not.
I moved it to a Mopar shop in Illinois where I'd gotten friendly with the owner over the years seeing him at shows.  I envisioned one of these MCG fairy tale stories, where he saved the day, the car got done and "the boy lived happily ever after, how cool is that!" or however Rob Wolf writes it.  But the experience wasn't good, rather than working together and being on the same page, the guy seemed a control freak of sorts and a little hard-nose with me in our dealings. I got the car out of there as soon as body and paint were done and partial assembled to the point of rolling chassis. And with my bank account wiped out from excessive billings!
I did the rest of assembly and detailing myself, and ended up getting 986 points at MCACN, not before the rear axle got trashed because they hadn't put oil in it! Alls well that ends well, I guess.
How I could have benefited if the relationship had been great and they'd maybe even taken it to some major shows to display it, seeing how I didn't even have a rig when I finished the car, and even now the logistics get to burdensome for me to get it out as much as I'd like, including Carlisle last weekend. You're lucky you found Noel Automotive and had a good experience with your project!

[TX9AAR]

I got lucky having Noel Automotive local to me and grateful that he has been willing to haul my car to shows as I don't have a truck and trailer. He treats my car like it's his own, and I know he has a lot more hours in it than he charged me. I know it's great advertising for his business but he has gone above and beyond what a restoration shop would normally do. He also let me do as much of the assembly as I was comfortable with

[JH27N0B]

I was at the Belvidere IL Mopar show and Noel Automotive had a display there.  I stopped by a few times wanting to say hi to Kieth but he must have been out wandering as I didn't see him.
I did a day trip to the Mecum Indy auction last May and while looking at a roadrunner there, another guy looking at it too started chatting with me about the car.  I noticed he was wearing a Noel shirt, and recognized him from his videos.  I told him I was a subscriber and had commented on some of his videos, and he remembered my posts.  Super nice guy I'm sorry I missed seeing him Sunday!
I've had my T/A from high school in the late 70s, and bought it from a guy who'd been working on fixing it up with his brother, who owned it.  His brother got a new job out of state and wanted to sell the car to get money for a house down payment.
In the 90s I met Larry Weiner at a show selling Mr Norms stuff and told him my car had a Grand Spaulding sticker on it when I bought it.  He said he had sales records and if my car was sold there new, he should have a sales folder. I got him my VIN and contact info, and a few months later he called to say he had my folder!
From it I found the original owners info, he'd traded an A66 Challenger in on it in February of 71!  I searched his name around 25 years ago, and found info that sounded like the same guy in a suburb 15 miles east of me.  I tried calling but the phone just rang no voicemail.  I sent a SASE to the address, never got returned nor did the USPS say couldn't deliver so who knows what happened.
I thought about going out and knocking on the guys door but was too nervous.  So I never did get to find the history from the first owner of my car sadly.

[BZaar]

I just wanted to add a few comments as I too agonized for years about where I would finally find a RESTO shop to do my Red/Red AAR.  My car sat from 1982 to 2020 (garage kept) until I got the $$$ for the complete rotisserie restoration.  I originally thought I'd send it to a place about 4hrs. from my house but didn't really like the idea of being so far away during the process.  I was so lucky as well to find a shop 20 minutes away from my home and since I've read so many horror stories about RESTO shops wanted to share this info.  Anybody in the N.E. Ohio area, I would highly recommend Rowe's Rod & Customs in Ellet Ohio.  He might not be the cheapest, but he does outstanding quality work.
I had the pleasure of meeting and speaking with Keith @ MCACN 2024 while admiring TX9's beautiful AAR.  He was very gracious with his time and AAR knowledge.  I also saw Keith at Carlisle 2025 where he again spent some time looking over my car and sharing detailed AAR information.
I'm the 3rd owner of my car (since 1977) the second owner is now deceased and I'm getting nowhere fast on trying to document the original owner, so I envy you having all the "Grand Spaulding dodge" info. Any tips on tracking that sort of info. down is greatly appreciated.

[JH27N0B]

We who own Mr Norms sold cars were very fortunate in that around 30 years ago, Larry Weiner got together and formed a partnership with Norm Kraus to sell all the dealership stuff the Kraus brothers had stashed away in their old building after Chrysler pulled their dealership in the late 70s.
Most of the sales record folders were still there.  Mine even had a set of keys for my car in it!
Some other dealers sales records still exist, but I don't know of any registry out there to reunite them with present day car owners.  Tom of Rocket Restorations in WA has found a number of stashes of records while scouting out closed dealerships for leftover NOS parts hordes for example.
No doubt most sales records from dealerships ended up in landfills decades ago though.