Mark,

We haven’t spoken in a while, but October 16 was the one year anniversary of the delivery of the 1968 GTO (named “Lucille” after B.B. King’s guitar) that I purchased from you.  My son and I continue to really enjoy the car, and I have enclosed some “anniversary photos” for your review.

 The car is running great – we have done a few mechanical upgrades (center suspension link, Goodrich Radial T/A tires, Monroe Sensamatic gas shocks) and some cosmetics (floor mats, interior trim parts, some engine parts, a set of re-manufactured lug nuts), but the car is still largely the way it was when we took delivery.  Last spring, we rebuilt the carburetor, replaced the points / condenser with a High Energy Ignition module (we kept the original distributor) & 45,000 volt coil, and replaced the battery.  There are still a few electrical system anomalies, but we are de-bugging them as we go. I have ordered (but not yet installed) a number of parts from Ames Performance Engineering, but that’s what winters in the garage are for!

 We are in the process of converting the garage into “ManWorld” built around three themes: men, machines and sports on TV (wide-screen HDTV with digital cable box & surround sound system, black naugahyde couch, chrome jackstands, Gladiator Garage Works cabinets & work benches, beer in the fridge, cigars, epoxy-coated floor, smells of gas and oil – you get the picture!).  Without Lucille, we would only have a garage…

Mark, the car is an absolute blast to drive – I under-estimated the attention and excitement that the car would create just showing up at the local convenience store to pick up a couple of bags of ice!

The sound she makes between first and second gear never fails to get us the “thumbs up” from anyone who understands what we have and who can remember when cars like these were everywhere.  Lucille is a time machine and almost always starts up conversations wherever she goes – complete strangers will walk up and talk about cars they have owned in the past, cars they wish they had bought, cars that their friends had - and more than one will swear that they will “get something like that” soon!  

On a beautiful late summer Saturday afternoon in Nashville , I was sitting at a traffic light, all the windows down, rumbling in neutral - and a late model Dodge pick-up truck pulled up in the lane to my right.  A woman’s voice said, “Oh, man!  Look at that car!”  I glanced over, and an attractive middle-aged lady looked me in the eye through her open window and said: “You just sent me back to high school!  What a beautiful machine!”  Now that’ll get your motor running!! 

One night in early August, my son and I took my nieces home in Lucille at around 12:30am, and after we dropped them off, we stopped for gas on the way home – and then drove around town until 2:30 in the morning!  Downtown, suburbs, burning a little rubber, swapping drivers (in the middle of an empty four-lane highway), burning a little more rubber, waving to Nashville’s Finest (and they waved back), getting thumbs-up everywhere, laughing, talking…a priceless evening, a memory-maker. 

My son’s 16th birthday is less than six weeks away – we have logged a lot of “wheel time” in the last year, and he can handle Lucille very well.  He can’t wait until he can take her out on his own – on special occasions, you understand – but he has great respect for what this car is and how LUCKY he is to have access to such equipment.   

Lucille has built a bond between my son and me that really can’t be adequately described. 

Keep on doing what you are doing – and send me some more business cards!!  Thanks… 

Joe Thompson
850 Glendale Lane
Nashville, TN  37204
Office:  (615) 463-8074
Cell:     (615) 210-3293 

PS: I REALLY wanted that white/white/red ’68 GTO convertible that you had on your web site a while back – but storage space limits me to only one classic car at a time, and I can’t give up what I’ve got…

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From: drb@mpc-inc.com
Sent: Tuesday, January 17, 2006 10:29 AM
To: mark@markviiclassiccars.com
Subject: 1968 Cougar

Mark,

First, I would like to thank you for your attention on Monday.  It is rare these days to have such personal service with anything.  I really was impressed by your hospitality and attitude towards customer service.  In sales, I know how hard it is to "lock the door" and talk to only one customer.  You made me feel welcomed and I am grateful for that.

Secondly, I believe that I have resolved the email/filter problem that I was having with respect to receiving your last 2 emails.  Go ahead and reply to this message and we can see if the problem is solved.  If I don't see a reply in a day or so, I'll call.  I know you are leaving later this week for Arizona.

To follow-up from our meeting, I do wish to go ahead with the following:

      >  Enclosed Shipping    $ 1200.
      >  Underbody work $   900.
                        $ 2100.     Total

Let me know when you would like the payment and in what form.  I would prefer to send a personal check but will do whatever is needed.

Again, thank you for your time spent on Monday.

Dan Brost
MPC, Inc.
Walworth Sales & Marketing
ph. 262-275-5791  ext. 2560
www.mpc-inc.com

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From: Joshua Garee / Dal VC-F [joshua.garee@kuehne-nagel.com]