The story of this 1970 Ocelot SS by Sand Chariots dates back to 1969. Two guys who became best friends Ralph and Nick, and built this car. A shop called Stop And Go Automotive Diagnostic Center in Franklin Square, NY was its birth place. They had just opened and were hiring people to work for them.

I was hired on as a mechanic, two weeks later they hired Ralph, he was just discharged from the Navy, he was a boiler welder in the Navy and looking for work. Ralph and I were the new boys so we hung around a lot. Ralph was not a mechanic, so he was going to learn about cars. One day at lunch Ralph had brought an ad in for a dune buggy, it was the happening thing at the time. Ralph asked my opinion about it I said it was a cool looking car, I was a muscle car guy at the time, but it was very cool. So, Ralph asked me would I be interested in maybe helping him build it, I said sure.

Ralph already had a 57 VW Bug not running, but a good candidate. I lived very close to the shop; they had given me the keys to open the shop in the mornings. Several weeks later the body arrived minus the convertible top. We convinced the manager of the shop it would be a good advertisement for the shop for us to build it there and we wouldn't take up too much work space.

The whole project took us about six months, we worked nights, and weekends on it. Ralph was welder so shortening the chassis was not a problem, the engine needed rebuilding and that was my job, we salvaged the wiring and used parts of it, we did brakes all around, did the kingpins and other front-end components. It was a fun project, Ralph taught me how to weld and I shared my knowledge of mechanics with him, it was a wonderful fun sharing experience.

Ralph had been driving the car for around six months, and was hit by another car, Ralph wasn't hurt, but the car was inoperative. Ralph really didn't have the money to repair it, plus his fiancée was interested in getting married. Ralph had no place to store it, so I stored it at my uncle's place in upstate NY until he decided what to do.

Ralph said to me you have as much invested in the car as I have, you take it and this way it will stay in the family. I did the repairs and offered it back, but Ralph had moved on. He would drive it now and then; we used to go out to the NY beaches and ride. The only thing that could catch us was Motorola.

The car became my daily driver. It was a cold ride in winter. Moved out of NY in 73 and took the car to a new home with me. Ralph got married. I would visit Ralph every Christmas when I would return to NY to see my folks.

One year when I went back to NY Ralph had moved to Texas 1980. Never saw him again or heard from him, tried to find him for several years. In recent years I found out he had passed away in 1985. As a tribute to my best friend, I decided to restore the car in 2018. It is as close to original as possible; the color is very close to the original also. It's been fun to do the restoration, but it would have been better if I could have shared it with my friend Ralph.