Many car enthusiasts can pinpoint a general time when they caught the bug. For Norman Beaty, it was the day that his father pulled into the driveway in a beautiful 1968 Pontiac Firebird. It was a hot summer day in Southeastern Tennessee — Saturday, June 28, 1975, to be exact. Norman was 13 years old, enjoying a nice, long break from school. There were plenty of muscle cars and pony cars on the roads of his hometown during this time, intensifying his desire to slide behind the wheel of a fast car someday in the future. The Firebird became the first realistic option when it entered the Beaty household.
Norman’s father Dexter bought the Firebird from Edwin Tate, the car’s original owner. It was
