I went to a car show in Weston (MA) center this weekend, put on by their Rotary club. The place was overflowing with an eclectic mix of old and new, everything from quite young Ferraris, to an ancient steam car, that was fired up to provide the “noon” whistle. I ran into a couple of old work acquaintances who were displaying their cars, a V-12 Jaguar and a A-H 3000, and two of my Sunbeam buddies, all three of us sans Tigers.

One car really brought back memories of my college days. It was a Pontiac GTO “Judge” convertible, beautifully restored. Just like the brand new example that my college friend Bill had. Same color, stripes, and everything.

I was looking the car over, and could hear the owner talking to some folks. There were only 168 Judge convertibles made, he said, and this is the only one in this color, mint turquoise.

WHAT? No, there was Bill’s car, too... It took another second before I realized what I could be seeing. I questioned the owner about what he knew of the car’s history, and he said not much, but his research discovered that it was delivered to the Pontiac dealer in Arlington, MA, a the closest dealer to Bill’s home. And the dates worked out just right… So THIS MUST BE IT, Bill’s old car. Incredible, after all these years.

Bill sold it after a couple years, a forced switch to more practical transportation. An unknown number of owners later, the current owner found it in a rather sorry state, painted dark blue and thoroughly used up. Today it’s like new, better maybe.

Update: Through a mutual friend, I relayed word to Bill that his former ride was found. However, he didn't sound too interested. I guess it brought back some of his not so fond memories of the period, too.