Illinois Veteran Reunited With His First Car After Selling It To Start Family

Here’s a great story of a 1st car. Like every first car, it was loved by its teenaged driver, but unlike every first car, this one found its way back to him later in life thanks to the internet and a big-hearted dealership.

All throughout Nick’s childhood, he would watch his mom’s favorite movie, Smokey And The Bandit, and it didn’t take long to become a fan of the movies' biggest star. Not Burt Reynolds, Sally Field, or even the great Jackie Gleason. No, this star was the Trans Am that Burt Reynolds drove from Arkansas to Atlanta, making fans of every generation along the way. The Trans Am was Nick’s mom’s dream car, she would tell him. A dream never realized, settling instead for a Pontiac Sunbird.

It wasn’t just the wheels of Bandit’s Trans Am that were spinning, Nick had the idea that maybe one day, when he could drive, he’d get that famous Trans Am he and his mom loved so much. The search started in earnest right around the time he hit high school. Nick never could get the right car at the right price, however, and went away to college, still without his dream car.

While he was obviously doing his college homework in 2007 he stumbled upon a dealer in Minnesota who had 3 different Trans Ams—surely a sign that ONE of them must be perfect for him. He called his mom, and she trekked with him up to the dealership, where they settled on a black Trans Am that needed some work. After handing over 10 grand, Nick’s mom followed him back with what would become his dream machine. Nick, his mom, and his dad could do a lot of the work themselves, and with the help of their local dealership, they were on their way to making it the perfect car.

The finishing touches were some Hooker Headers, and a sweet Alpine sound system to rock the neighborhoods with the likes of AC/DC and Linkin Park. The car was perfect, a black Trans Am, with a blue interior, and the 6.6 Litre V8 under the hood, even though there wasn’t any bird ON the hood. It was something he’d get to later. The experience of getting the car, and fixing it up with the help of his family was better than he could have imagined. They shined it up like a pretty penny, Nick said. As a nod to his ROTC training in college, he put plates on the car that just said, “Cadence.”

Nick and that car became great friends, traveling the country for the next 7 years, finishing college, and entering the Air Force. They drove a lot of the same roads featured in Smokey and The Bandit while in Georgia, made a trip to Panama City, to Daytona Beach, and out to his first duty station in Las Vegas.

He got commissioned into the Air Force in 2010, and married his girlfriend Heidi, all under the watchful eye of the aging 6.6. He was driving to his pre-deployment for Afghanistan when one of the rear leaf springs gave out. Nick couldn’t miss his appointment, so he took his wife’s car, and the Trans Am was repaired, and became her daily driver while he was training.

Nick served his time in Afghanistan as a military Police Officer and moved back to Illinois with his wife to start a family. That led to the selling of his dream car in 2014. A lifetime in 7 years and just under 70,000 miles and memories off to a new owner so Nick and Heidi could start their family.

But there’s something about those first cars of ours, isn’t there? We never really let go. We see a similar car, and the memories come roaring back like headlights on a back road at night. Nick was the same. Sometimes when it was slow at work, or when he and his wife or mom would talk about the old car, he’d think, “I’ve gotta see if I can find it.” Maybe with the hope of getting it back, maybe just to see how it’s getting along.

Well, after unsuccessful searches of the VIN, and attempts to contact the buyer from 2014, Nick tried a blanket search of the Trans Am and told me that the 3rd search result looked a lot like the one he parted with 10 years prior. Black Trans Am. Blue interior. This bird had the Screaming Chicken decal on the hood, something Nick had never gotten around to. But the wheels, the stance, The performance brakes that he and his dad installed, even some of the imperfections looked eerily similar…and that blue interior. It was on Thiel Motors website, and at the location in DeWitt Iowa. He scrolled the photos and saw the Alpine Speakers. He knew he had found his lost car.

He knew he was going to get it back (We always know.) He called his mom and she was so happy for him. Heidi knew the car was coming back home, and who knows, maybe their son Kyler will drive it when he gets his license?

Nick called Jay at Thiel Motors, and told him the story of the car on their website. Jay talked to John Thiel, who agreed to discount the Trans Am so it could find its way home. This seemed like a rare occasion, so I asked John about it. He said it’s pretty amazing that this car didn’t end up far away, as online customers have really become a big part of their business recently. “It’s not uncommon for buyers from north or south of the border to purchase from us, and the reality is that those cars aren’t probably making it back into the states. This was a nice opportunity to reunite a classic with its owner, so we were happy to help out.”

They were so excited that Jay came in on his day off to deliver the car. Nick was there with his mom of course, who again followed him home in his dream car.

If you're looking for your lost car, check out this page on Facebook, Lost Muscle Cars. It has hundreds of thousands of followers, and they could get you reunited with yours.