Galen Govier

[Q5XX29]

Can somebody tell me if this guy is still in business? Or if he just doesn't need MY business...

I left him messages twice over the past few weeks, with no return phone call. I am happy to pay for his services, if I could just reach him.

Maybe somebody here can help. I was going to ask Galen about two issues.

The first one regards a 1969 Charger that my dad bought new. I have the VIN from the original bill of sale. Is it possible to track it down, or does he have any record of it? It was just a 318 car, but I think it would be really cool to find it and restore it and give it to him as a gift.

The second issue is in regard to a '69 Hemi Super Bee (green, 4 speed) that I saw advertised online, but the ad is outdated. I have the VIN for this car also. I am wondering if he can provide me with contact info of the owner, so I can see if it is still for sale (since I know he has documented the car). I have cash in hand, ready to spend for the right hemi 4-speed car. None of the ones I see online currently are exactly what I am looking for, and the dealership that listed this car online on consignment (Gateway Classics) will not put me in touch with the owner.


Thank you for any help you can provide!

[Ghoste]

Whats the VIN for the Charger?
I think GG is busy with his new thing selling cars for whoever that dealer is he's hooked up with.

[WHITE AND RED 69]

There was a thread on forbbodiesonly that he has stopped all services for at least the next year. The secretary that took everyone's info also left so that's probably why nobody is calling you back.

http://www.forbbodiesonly.com/moparforum/showthread.php?30980-Galen-Govier-No-more-orders

[Q5XX29]

Whats the VIN for the Charger?
I think GG is busy with his new thing selling cars for whoever that dealer is he's hooked up with.

Pm sent

[Q5XX29]

There was a thread on forbbodiesonly that he has stopped all services for at least the next year. The secretary that took everyone's info also left so that's probably why nobody is calling you back.

http://www.forbbodiesonly.com/moparforum/showthread.php?30980-Galen-Govier-No-more-orders

Ah. Shoot. Thank you.

[triple_green]

I'm not sure that GG is the right person to track down that Charger for you. I think he only keeps track of the high dollar cars. He wasn't the least bit interested in my 383-4 Charger at the dc.com show a few years ago.

I think you would do better going to one of the (year specific) registries or posting the info in one of the larger chat boards.

I don't know if Wayne Wooten is still around. (The Dodge Charger Registry) He had a lot of info for a while but I haven't seen much of him for a few years.

Mark

[moparguy01]

Your not missing anything by not having Galen look into your cars. He's a grease ball used car salesman. The guy has been proven wrong on quite a few occasions as well.Mopar did all sorts of weird crap building cars, and when lots of the records got destroyed I think it was in a fire, there was lots of info lost.

Good luck finding your car, but I doubt you will find it like that.

[Kern Dog]

Does Gilligan Glover still do that stuff?

[Ghoste]

I don't think he does.  If you have a real high profile car possibly but I think the "everyday" Mopars not.

[RallyeMike]

Its really a shame for the hobby what a soap opera this has become. I'm curious as I do not follow this much, are there other trusted Mopar-specific appraisers/experts that are becoming the new go-to people?

[charge69]

This board has a number of people on it  that are more knowledgeable than GG but they just do not want to end up like him.   I would trust their knowledge quicker than GG on most any subject!

All you have to do is ask!

[RallyeMike]

So when I sell my Charger do you think it will be helpful to post a link back to DC.com where I have asked everyone to verify its authenticity and in a WIW thread?

It'll go something like this: "Nice car but here's my opinion of what I don't like_________. Have I told you yet today that the President sucks? Boobies!"



Seriously, what I was wondering is, Are there other respected authorities out there that provides what GG used to? Just curious.

[charge69]

No one I know of provides the service that GG provided but, people on here don't charge for theirs!   You just have to wade thru a serious amount of inane BS to get your answer.

Just a little advice:  DO NOT link this forum to anything you want to sell!  It would only seriously confuse the issue!

Too many "experts" that will readily give you their opinion but, don't have the money to actually buy it at any price!

"I would not settle for less than 20K" but they couldn't and wouldn't give you 8K for your car! All want to sell high and buy low!  Well, who doesn't?

The President does suck!!   Boobies !!!

[John_Kunkel]

As many here might remember, GG became a member over on the Moparts board and, with his introductory post, immediately alienated most of the board members with his arrogance.

[Ghoste]

As to others in person likewise well before that.  I think there is less cachet to his blessing than there was maybe 6 years ago.

[NHCharger]

As many here might remember, GG became a member over on the Moparts board and, with his introductory post, immediately alienated most of the board members with his arrogance.

I do remember that long thread. Turned into quite a dog pile.
I attended one of Lord Galen's infomercials at Carlisle, must have been mid to late 90's. I remember someone asking a question concerning a 318 car. His reply was basically "I don't waste my time on those cars".

[tan top]

i'm still waiting for a reply to a letter I sent 1989 -90         no doubt if mine was a aero mopar or hemi or sixpack or superstock or convertible would of got a answer 
sure that's why he asked for the vin to be put on the out side of the envelope      every thing else goes in the trash 

[myk]

The reason why this self-inflated blow-hard Galen is such a jerk, is because at the end of the day everyone knows that ANYONE can perform the work he does with the appropriate amount of dedicated research and effort.  The fact that people come to him because they want him to do their Mopar research/bitch work isn't something to be excessively proud of IMO. 

[Ghoste]

He was one of the earliest ones to take an interest in gathering this information and collating though.  Back in the days of the Mopar Muscle Club before internet and his forthcoming worship in all of the magazines and auction writeups, he was a lot more generous with sharing the stuff.

[hemi-hampton]

I met Galen at a local Detroit Mopar show a few years ago. I remember Galen got real excited to see my 1972 Bengal Charger Fender Emblem I pulled out of my coat pocket. About fell out of his chair running for his Camera. Unfortunately he had very little info on these cars for me. LEON.

[Lord Warlock]

Every make has a few experts that have built up reputations over a long period of time in deciphering old collectibles, I respect Galen only because he did develop a reputation for this craft a long time before anyone else did.  For the past 20 years it seems he has been the go to guy to have uber rare cars documented, and is recognized by the experts in the industry to the point that people will pay thru the nose to get him to certify a car.  While I've always known my car to be rare, I never really considered it to be one of the types worth paying Galen to certify it, its only an RT SE, and an early one, with quite a few options, other than that there is nothing to set it apart to justify a concourse restoration or a Galen Certification.  I have wanted to get him to make a new fendertag for me, but i'm not willing to part with my only build sheet to get it done so gave up on that.  I'd get ticked to have my original tag and build sheet lost in his files for years waiting. 

I think he's earned the right to be arrogant, to a point, but unless I had a winged car, or a real hemi car, or the first car made I can't see it being worth his time. 

[Q5XX29]

Thanks for your thoughts, everybody. I have never been particularly impressed by Galen or his reputation, but I knew Galen had decoded the fender tag of this particular Super Bee that I have been trying to find and buy, so I was hoping he had a record of the owner for me to contact (see:  http://gatewayclassiccars.com/detroit/1969/dodge/super-bee-S73.html ).  I have several cars that he WOULD be interested in, although I don't require his services for those.

In case anybody here has the resources to help locate these cars, the VINs are:


1969 Charger 318 that my father bought new:  XP29F9B135206

1969 Hemi Super Bee in the Gateway Classics link: WM23J9G237421


Thank you in advance for any help you can provide.

[Cooter]

One of these in every facet of life. This is why I don't do high dollar cars. Nobody cares about anything that isn't worth a fortune.
GG is one of these. If you can't be 'bothered' by the 'lowly' 318-383 cars, then why do it at all.
we have one of these in the F.Look world as well. He likes to tout his hierarchy. Of course, like with GG, he has his minions.
only difference is the fact he doesn't charge openly. But beware, you post pics of your Super D500 whatever, and here he is being the condescending douche he is ripping your junk apart.

[polywideblock]

He was one of the earliest ones to take an interest in gathering this information and collating though.  Back in the days of the Mopar Muscle Club before internet and his forthcoming worship in all of the magazines and auction writeups, he was a lot more generous with sharing the stuff.

didn't he lead the charge to crucify the guy that had "moparperformance " after he published ALL the data that was in the "white books " in one special "document and verify your ride "issue  

                                                                                   I've still got mine  

[tan top]

I think he's earned the right to be arrogant, to a point, but unless I had a winged car, or a real hemi car, or the first car made I can't see it being worth his time.  

sorry LW  I have to  disagree  

,  any knowledgeable  mopar nut would love to get paid full time ,  for what we all sort of do when we see our particular favourite mopar etc  look at how we scrutinise chargers on here  , fender tags etc & the charger registries guys , Hamtramck historical , etc,   no one pays us , for the help we all give the less informed mopar  guy ,  we all do it because we love the hobby &  ALL these cars ,   !!  we are only too pleased to help fellow mopar brothers  , FOC & would not dream being paid for it  !
someone who gets paid for this stuff should be falling over them self to help , all kinds of mopars  ,    
 
again no offence meant , just how I see it  
 

[Ghoste]

I'm with you Tan Top.  This is a hobby and its supposed to be fun.

[Lord Warlock]

No offense taken TT,  like many enthusiasts here willing to decode an option tag or build sheet for others, I posted every option available to a 1969 charger back in the mid 90s at the beginning of the internet,  on my first web page.  I took the data from the mopar Red book as well as other sources I had accumulated at the time,  Its still out there in never never land of the internet, if you find the page it will have angelfire links attached to it which I avoid today.  But it was an attempt to help others before there was many other sources doing so.
I don't expect to be paid for it, but I also don't have the knowledge to decipher production numbers, how many of how many, and uber rarity.  I can help with the mundane but the specialty stuff I leave to the experts.  GG was known to me as one of those people back when I set up my first web pages.  

If I could figure out how to get paid to do it, I would learn, but it would take years to build a reputation, and GG has been known to fly out to a location and verify it at the source...for a price...  something I'd prefer not to do as I avoid air travel if given a choice.  As early as the late 70s I was performing locating services for specific types of muscle cars, i.e. finding specific models for specific buyers, usually low mileage originals,  but i did it for free because they were usually friends of my dad or detroit execs, I just never figured out how to make a living at it back then, even though I knew a ton about most of the musclecars of the era.  

Like GG, I had no time or interest in non big blocks with the exception of a few 340 or 350 powered cars, that were specialty type cars (Like  AAR and TA cars).  In the 80s and 90s the cars hadn't gotten so scarce that people gave a hoot about 318 powered chargers, they were simply parts cars for the RT's and Hemi cars being restored.  Today, they have reached a point where they are worth more than 10k, something i didn't envision back then.

[A12 Superbee]

I read on a forum somewhere, may have been B Bodies or the Lift Off Hood playground, that many years ago, I think the early 80's, that Chrysler used to let pretty much anyone into their central records area to research cars. These people could come and go as they pleased. One of the first to be regularly doing this was GG. It is 'alleged' that certain researchers made off with a lot of information on the high end and rarer cars and adfter a few years Chrysler noticed that there were significant holes in the available data for the years 68-70 (lets face it, the best and most desirable years).

Who pops up all of a sudden and starts providing information on these very years? Yep, GG. Some have pointed the finger of blame squarely at him for having the missing data. It would make good business sense to drip feed it out and that's exactly whats happened.

I don't believe there ever was a fire (some have said it was a flood also) that destroyed these records because there is no record of the fire and Chrysler themselves have gone to great lengths to track down the missing info, something they would not have done if they knew it was all lost in a fire. They hoped it was all stored in an archive somewhere, some shipping container or pile of boxes in a dusty back room but so far, no luck.

Someone has the data.....

(the comments in this post are my opinion only and do not represent the opinion of this forum)  

[Ghoste]

Thats certainly possible but I will add that he solicited a lot of information from others with similar interests back in the MMCI days.

[Lord Warlock]

I'm pretty sure you could use a copy machine or a microfiche machine to make copies, like any library offered at the time.  I would think any real researcher thats worth his salt would make copies of as much data as he could get access to, so he wouldn't have to make another trip, I know I would.  I do remember going through years of magazines to get performance data on a 69 440 charger r/t with a 3.23 gears soon after i bought mine in 78. 

[hemi-hampton]

The Chrysler fire is the story they have put out the past 10 + years or so. Before Chrysler made up that story, I always heard way back in the 90's they just threw it all away in the dumpster when they moved out of Highland Park. After being told years later how stupid it was to throw this documentation/paper work out they came up with the fire cover story to not look stupid, seems it worked as most beleive it. Back in the 80's nobody had any big interest in this stuff like they do now. LEON.

[Ghoste]

Thats what I think too.  The fire didn't occur until the stuff got to the Detroit incinerator facility. (so it wasn't a lie exactly)