New Cars Rombengan 2011 - 2020

(See Vol 1 first) --> Volume 1

Volume 2 - The Gran Prix

Growing up I always heard stories about how my parents had Grand Prix. And how my mom's was the nicest one in San Fernando. The car would come up in conversation at small family gatherings. It was always "the car that you uncle crashed". I was always a little confused as to who owned it and when. My grandpa and I recently found all these photos of it. So of course, the memories started flowing and we practically spent a whole sunday talking about this car. I learned alot about it's history and about it's time in our family.

The car was a 69 Grand Prix. My grandpa bought it used in Van Nuys in 1972. It was cheap because, as he recalled, it was an ugly pink color and nobody wanted it. Apparently, the previous owner painted his brand new car pink and decided to sell it after a couple years, only to find out that his color choice was making it hard to sell the car. My grandpa saw past it and brought the car home. It wasn't a few days before he was in the garage masking the car off to spray it. Within a week of purchasing the "pink panther", as he called it, the car was in white primer and plans were being made for a full candy paint job. At the time, my uncle had just finished his 65 Impala and was itching to work on a new project. It was understood that the Grand Prix would eventually be my mom's car, so they were going to build it with her in mind. My mom had this one dress that my grandpa liked. He said he wanted to paint the car to match the dress. He was going to accomplish this by giving it a silver base and building up the candy till he achieved the right shade. Believe it or not, he had the dress(wrapped in plastic of course) with him in the garage when he painted the car. The candy toner was a mixture of red and magenta.

Clockwise left to right, Here's the car after it was sprayed with white primer. The next one is a photo of my mom wearing the dress that inspired the color. Then there are a couple of random pics after it was painted. Closeup of the "shotgun pipes" as the real OG's call them. Installed at Cohea's Muffler in San Fernando.


Couple more of the car after it was painted. This is the house my grandpa still lives in, right by the Mission. You can see my dad's blue Grand Prix in the background getting body work. My mom's was way nicer than his.


Everyone loved this car. It hit the street about the same time as 2 or 3 of my grandpa's other candy jobs and people were banging the door down to get their cars sprayed. He did a bunch back to back in the early 70's. Right away, the car was in a bunch of weddings and quinces. All my mom's cousins and my uncle's friends wanted to use the car for something. My grandpa remembers how he was so pissed that they used it for my mom's cousin's wedding, because they scratched the paint "putting those stupid flower chingaderas all over it". Hahaha.

First is my mom's cousin's wedding. The next one was taken outside of Santa Rosa Church right there in San Fernando. Its of my uncle's best friend Bob Lake. He died real young. This photo made my grandpa cry because Bob Lake was like a son to him. RIP. The last two are just a couple more with it all decked out with flowers.


First is one of my mom again. Then some dude in front of Dales, where my uncle worked. Bottom left is our cousin Eddie from Norcal, my uncle, and his good friend Jacob. Another sad one. Jacob just died right before christmas this year. My grandpa took that pretty hard too. Jacob, Bob Lake, and my uncle Bob were 3 of a kind. They all lived and died the same way. Bottom right is my uncle thinking he's all bad. Dig the dual frenched antennas.


After the car came out so good, my uncle decided he wanted to drive it around for a while before it was officially given to my mom. Against my grandpa's wishes, he lifted it and threw the Unisons club plaque in the package tray. A couple weeks turned into a couple months, which turned into a year or so of my uncle sorta claiming the car as his. He drove it everywhere. Trip out on the old Unisons plaque.




So one night, my uncle was coming home from work and "fell asleep at the wheel". That's how I've heard the story since I was a kid. Knowing what I know now an from what my grandpa says, I'm pretty sure he crashed the car because he was more than a little under the influence. He crashed it into a fire hydrant on Brand Blvd, one block from the house. He got out and walked home. My grandparents got out of bed, called the police and went down the street to look at the damage. My grandpa was pissed. And of course, my grandma defended my uncle till the end. But damn. He fucked that car up.


My grandpa was determined to bring the car back to its former glory. He bought a parts car and immediately began putting the Grand Prix back together. He told me he felt bad for my mom and he wanted to make good on his promise to give it to her when she turned 16, which was rapidly approaching. He said the car was never the same. It got repainted, but it wasn't as pretty. The frenched antennas got scrapped and the lifts got taken out. He did give it to my mom and she drove the car for years. But it seems my uncle was the one who got to enjoy the car in its better days.

Here's some progress pics of the body work. You can see my grandpa on his hands and knees. He looks just like that today. Every time I go over there he's doing something under a car or under a sink. Always in jeans, boxers hanging out, no shirt, no shoes. That's my grampa.


This is a pic I found of my real Dad. I only have two photos of him. I haven't seen him since I was 9. But this is him in the early 70's. Pic taken in front of my grandparent's house. He and my mom both loved Grand Prix.


That's all for now...until volume 3.

-Eryk