New member from CA, trying to find my dad's Total Performance T from the east coast

[oldskool442]

Hey all,

Great to find this site, excited to see so much T Bucket content in one place! My automotive addition began at a very young age thanks to my dad's Total Performance kit he built in the 80s, which regrettably he ended up selling in the early 2000s to a great owner that lived in Maryland. I ended up getting in touch with him recently and found he kept the car almost entirely unchanged until he sold it around 2015 to someone who lived in Virginia (who worked at a college near Arlington), who had it for a couple years and he believed it ended up somewhere in the Southeast. It would be awesome to find out if anyone is familiar with this car as I would love to find out where the car is today.

First picture (with the top) is what it looked like around the time my dad sold it and second picture (without the top) is what it looked like when it spent its life with the owner in Maryland.

I'm sure after changing hands a few times it might have changed a bit, so if any of the features or parts look familiar I remember even the tiniest details and could probably identify the car even if it's looks completely different.

 

[Spanky]

Welcome to T-Bucket Forums! Your quest for your fathers T-bucket is one I see fairly often. I wish you well in finding it. Looks like a nice car.
In the meantime what are your plans if you find it?

 

[choppedtop]

Welcome from Oklahoma and good luck with your search.

 

[Jack Henderson]

Welcome and best of luck from Chappell Nebraska

 

[LongJohn]

small chance of finding that! Any way you could get the vin number? Other than that it’s just like any other Total kit. Best thing you could do is a clone of your dads car. Find a car and make it his! Good luck and welcome to the obsession! Hade mine for 55 years now!

 

[Neshkoro]

Good job LongJohn!! I had mine for almost 45 years.

 

[WebMistress]

I feel like such a newbie... has ours for 16 years now.

 

[LongJohn]

You are a “newby”. Lol

 

[Neshkoro]

WebMistress, it would be interesting to do a survey on length of ownership of T Buckets in our family!

 

[WebMistress]

WebMistress, it would be interesting to do a survey on length of ownership of T Buckets in our family!

Good idea, that would be interesting.
Guess I will have to figure out how to create a poll in this new software!

 

[DonnyRay]

Welcome oldskool442 from Stockton California. A 442 is a 60's Oldsmobile. Total performance is still in business if you want to build a clone of your dad's car.

 

[DonnyRay]

4 barrel carburetor , 4 speed manual transmission and 2 bucket seats.

 

[LongJohn]

I think Total Performance closer years ago.

 

[HenrysT]

I think Total Performance closer years ago.

I believe Speedway bought most if not all of TP inventory of parts, molds etc...

 

[HenrysT]

Total performance in CT closing down

Total Performance SOLD, new owner to move to Daytona RPM can confirm this, Total Performace has been sold and the Connecticut store is closing for good. The New owner is moving the business to Daytona Fl and it will be called King T LLC.

tbucketeer.com

 

[oldskool442]

Thanks all for the warm welcome! I totally agree that finding the car will be a challenge but I figured there's a ton of eyes on this page that may have or will someday come across the car. Fingers crossed! I have considered cloning the car or even building another one similar to it just for the enjoyment of putting one together and driving it. Dad and I shocked after over 20 years of not experiencing one we still really miss as much as we do. Maybe we'll get lucky and end up with two T Buckets

For those who noticed and mentioned my username, here's my '65 Olds 442 along side dad's '67 442. Mine is actually my first car which I got in 1998 and his he got in 2001 (actually sold his T Bucket to fund the frame off resto). His is a mild restomod while mine is currenting apart getting a pretty hardcore custom-fabbed pro-touring chassis and suspension. Once my 442 is back on the road I'll probably get more serious about getting my hands on and building a Total Performance T.