1979 Macho T/As #51 - #98

1979 Macho T/A #58

Owner: La Fontaine Classic Cars

We’ve got some cool background on 1979 #58, and just as I was writing this entry in on the site, it literally just popped up for sale at La Fontaine Classic Cars in Milford, MI! 1979 #58 is a unique combo of Solar Gold / Starlight black on deluxe Camel Tan Hobnail cloth interior, but the seats look to have been re-trimmed in a different material back in the 90’s. However, this is not the original combination, as it was originally Solar Gold with Heritage Brown stripes. It was on eBay back in 2018 with a different 160MPH odometer in it, RM Auctions a couple years later, and it looks like it had gone into a collection since then. Here’s some cool background from one of the previous owners, Bill H. who owned the car from 1991 to 1995. He bought it from his cousin who ran an auto shop in Erie, PA that restored and customized cars. Bill was only 16 t the time he owned the car! His cousin was the one who painted on the custom decals in the 90’s that are seen on the hood. When his cousin was done working on the car, he had the T/A trailered down to Chattanooga, TN where Bill was attending high school. Bill wasn’t afraid to drive it like it should be driven, and recounts that he had absolutely flogged the T/A around town, and quotes: “I look back on those days and shudder. I didn't know what I was doing. It's a miracle I didn't wreck it.” Good onya Bill, that’s the way to do it! He used and abused the Macho, as he was working part-time at a fast food joint, when things would break and custom rare parts would fail, he’d have a hard time replacing them, and often resort to using stock parts to get it back on the road. At one point, the Hooker Headers eventually gave up, and he had just replaced them with standard cast iron manifolds. In 1994, Bill went to college and had left the T/A broken down at his mother’s home in Memphis, TN. His mother’s co-worker knew what the car was, and managed to score the non-running Macho for an extremely cheap price. It was that cheap, that after he had got the T/A back up and running, he had made his money back and then some at a local race a couple of weeks later! Bill had never heard about the car after that until he had seen photos of it on the internet in the early 2000’s, and recounts that “that was my brief moment of ignorant bliss with this beautiful car. From Erie, PA - driven in Chattanooga, TN - sold in Memphis, TN. It was my first car, and no car since has ever brought me as much joy.” That’s exactly what we like to hear, and hopefully the new owner can enjoy it the same way, just hopefully not as rough on it this time around!