Fast '57 spins off long trail of memories
With his muscles straining, Gary Muscat gripped the steering wheel tighter and downshifted. His '57 Chevy was really cooking that hot summer night in 1964 as he thundered through the darkness down Bowes Road in Elgin.
His eyes darted over; his rival's souped-up Corvette was nowhere to be seen.
"We did best two out of three," Gary recalls. "I beat him in the first two. My car was fast and I never lost."
When Muscat pulled over to collect his earnings, the two speeders were joined by those familiar, flashing blue lights. A local neighbor wasn't pleased with the youngsters' street-racing and had reported them. Her complaint stemmed from shattered dishware. Both boys' roaring, open exhaust headers had rattled her china cabinet, sending pieces crashing to the floor.
That night they were lucky - no tickets were issued. Although, they were given a stern warning to be "more quiet" driving around town.
Gary did a lot of racing in the car back then after buying it from his good friend Dave. Dave bought the '57 Chevy new at Doane Motors in Dundee but chose to relinquish it before heading off to Vietnam. While some of Gary's competing happened on area streets, such as that evening in Elgin, most races took place on sanctioned courses. The gearhead could often be found blasting down tracks in Lake Geneva, Rockford and Oswego.
"Every weekend I was changing rear ends or carbs, experimenting to make it faster," Muscat says. Not everything was high-speed high stakes. His wife, Lorna, also used the car for grocery runs and to ferry their four children.
In 1973, Gary, who lives in West Dundee, sold the Chevy to a friend. Knowing he may want it back some day, Gary made the friend promise to give him the first chance to buy it if it were to be sold again.
That day came in 1981. However, Gary didn't own the '57 long after getting it back. His 19-year-old son, Steve, took a liking to the car.
"The family history was too much to pass up," Steve says now.
For the next couple of years Steve "drove it everywhere," including down familiar quarter-mile strips. Like his pop, Steve also raced, taking the car to Byron and Union Grove.
In the late '80s, the Chevy was pulled from regular duty. It did serve in Steve's wedding, where he and his bride rumbled away from the chapel. After getting settled and raising their kids, the couple pulled it back out in 1995, returning it to the road.
Despite the decades, the car's high-octane legacy hasn't been lost. Steve's wife, Amy explains: "People remember the car; they call it the Dundee Legend."
• Share your car's story with Matt at auto@dailyherald.com.