I had a great day today - brought the car back to the guy I bought it from. Last fall, I had sent him some pics of the car restored in stock trim before the Rats Nest conversion so he didn't know about that or the COPO status. One of the things he told me as a condition of sale was that I could never "turn it into a race car".
So before I opened up the trailer, I handed him a sizable wad of cash and told him to take it. He refused and said that he was happy with the deal and never regretted selling the car to me. I then told him it was now verified to be a COPO. He said "really?" I said yes, really. He stuck to his guns and still refused to take the money saying that even if he knew what it was, he didn't have the money to restore it like I did. I persisted that I felt it was the right thing to do, so he finally accepted it.
Once we got that done, I told him he might feel better about taking the money, because I turned it into a race car. I got a confused look from him so I opened the trailer up. He loved it and understood why I did it after learning about all the car's history and vintage photos which I reviewed with him. He was thankful and happy the car will now likely be preserved for the long haul. Below are a few pics of the car in front of the garage where it laid in effective hibernation for 35 years while he owned it. Also took him for a spin in the car which he loved and took a few snaps of him in the car just like the day I bought it. He gave me a couple pics he had from a local show years ago and said he'll find more and get them to me. At the end he told me that I made his day. I told him that he made my day as well
