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Byline: PHIL BERG
Jeff Gregg's father's latent car enthusiasm exploded one Saturday in 1984. "I heard this brappa brappa brap outside and pulled up the window shade, he recalls.
His father drove up the driveway of the Illinois family home in a 1969 Shelby GT500. "It was Grabber blue, Gregg says, "and my brothers and I all went outside to look at it. Right then, we decided that this was the best thing in the world.
But the fleet got better. One of Gregg's two younger brothers got the "69 Shelby and drove it to high school every day. The brother still has the car. For Gregg's high-school wheels, his father gave him a "77 Pontiac Trans Am. Dad also brought home a Ford Mustang Boss 302, a Ferrari Testa-rossa and three more Shelby Mustangs.
Gregg says his father practiced a philosophy that if you give your kids a classic car in great shape, they'll take care of it.
In the late 1980s, Gregg's father bought a rural home with a large outbuilding to store the cars. Dad and sons became Shelby Mustang fans and attended Shelby American Automobile Club events together annually.
After the brothers left home, "we took hundreds of trips just to see each other's cars, recalls Gregg. He traded his "77 for a spotless 1970.5 Trans Am, which he owned for 19 years. He also found his dream car, a "65 Shelby GT350. While working in downtown Chicago, he bought a "93 HarleyDavidson Heritage Softtail because he had no space to park a car, and he still has it.
Source: HighBeam Research, Shelby Day Care; ENTHUSIASM IS A FAMILY AFFAIR.(NEWS)