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itsworn · 5 years

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This Guy’s Garage: Jim Simpson; Williamston, SC

Jim Simpson is one of the best-known residents of Williamston, South Carolina, a small village about ten miles southwest of Greenville, South Carolina. Jim is also the owner of the local ACE hardware store that sits on the main drag in the middle of Williamston. Jim is a late-comer to the car collection scene. He was in his late fifties when he bought his first car. Actually, it was for his son Mike, then a senior in high school. It was a ’70 Mustang 302. The rest, as they say, is history. Jim has owned 24 cars since then.

In 2010, Jim decided he needed a place to keep his growing collection, and decided to remodel the small building that sits across from his hardware store. As it turns out, this was the same building built in 1952 by his father, and that originally housed the hardware store.

After the remodel was complete, Jim spent many weekends going to shows and swap meets to find the signs, gas pumps, and automotive memorabilia displayed around the show room.

Besides the big show room, Jim has an office that sits off to one side where he conducts car business and keeps his car books, magazines, and photos. Directly behind the show room is the maintenance shop with a vehicle lift and lots of tools that would be the envy of any gear head. At this time, Jim has seven cars in his collection, which consist of a ’49 Mercury, a ’64 convertible GTO, a ’69 Mach I, Mustang, a ’67 Ford Fairlane, a convertible ’57 Chevy, a ’65 Chevy C-10 pickup truck, and a ’69 Boss 429 Mustang.

1949 Custom Mercury Jim found this Mercury at the Charlotte, Motor Speedway Auto fair and decided he had to have it, so he traded a ’56 F-100 pickup he had at the time. This midnight blue, 2-door coupe is powered by a 454 big-block Chevy, hooked to a 400 Turbo, and has power steering and power brakes. The engine was nicely detailed by Hot Rod Construction.

1964 Pontiac GTO Convertible This original ’64 GTO has 92,598 miles on the odometer and was discovered at the Barrett Jackson auction in Scottsdale, AZ. Jim decided he needed to add this original Goat to his collection. With tri-power carburetion, a four-speed, and a 389, this neat ’64 is fully documented just the way it came from the factory. Painted in Marimba Red with a matching red interior, this sun machine has power steering, power brakes, and redline tires with the original flipper hubcaps. Any gearhead would love to have this original ride in his collection.

1969 Mach 1 Mustang Jim found this fresh unit on eBay, and decide he had to have it in his collection. What Jim liked the most about this 97,813-mile Mach 1 was that it was still all matching-numbers. This Mach is powered by a 428 Cobra Jet connected to a C6 three-speed automatic. It has power steering, power disc brakes, and styled steel wheels with raised white letter tires. It’s painted in Apple Red and has a black weave interior.

1967 Ford Fairlane GT Jim had been looking for a ’67 Fairlane for a while when he was contacted by Jackie Jones, a well-known collector of Fords in North Carolina. Jackie had purchased the car as part of a collection that had belonged to a vice president of Walmart who had passed away. It had undergone a host of performance modifications of the era, and is powered by a 427 medium-riser, stroked to 454ci using a 428 CJ crank, forged pistons, Holman Moody camshaft, and a 2 x 4bbl setup (Holley BJ/BK) feeding a tunnel-wedge intake. It has a Hurst Competition Plus Shifter with a 4-speed toploader, and sits on 15 x 7 styled road wheels with Coker American Classic Redline tires.

1957 Chevy Convertible This ’57 Chevy convertible was in pretty bad shape when Jim first found, as it had spent most of its life as the pace car for Athens Speedway. Jim took it to Chuck Miller, who is one of the best-know restorers of Tri-Five Chevys. Chuck did a complete frame-off restoration and painted it bright, fire-engine red. It’s powered by a 283ci small-blok Chevy hooked to a Powerglide automatic. This convertible also has a working retractable top! Every now and then, Jim will take it out to some of the cruises and cars shows around Williamston.

1965 C-10 Chevy Pickup Jim saw this truck at the Barrett-Jackson auction in Scottsdale on one of his trips. He said it reminds him of the pickup he drove when he was in high school. It’s powered by a 350 small-block hooked to a 3-speed manual trans. It has power steering, power brakes, and air conditioning.

1969 Boss Mustang This is the pride and joy of Jim’s collection. This 69 Boss was purchased at Fairway Ford in Greenville, South Carolina. All the car’s documentation from the time it was originally purchased in 1970 to the present day has been preserved. The car has had three owners and has remained in the Greenville area since 1970. This car is one of the rarest, with only 93 Raven Black Boss 429s produced in 1969. It is also one of the first 200 S-code NASCAR 429 engines build by Ford and assembled by Kar Kraft. This car is KK number 1362, and is on the national Boss 429 Registry. This car took over five year to be restored, and was done by Dickie and Matt Dills of Lilburn, Georgia. The perfect black paint job was done by Rick Cantrell, of Hayesville, North Carolina.

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