Muscle car to be raffled to help sibling

BELEN, N.M. (KRQE) - It's a sacrifice of an almost priceless car, for a priceless sibling. Belen resident Art Gonzales says he can always replace his classic muscle car, but he can never replace his brother.

"It's probably one of the most important things I will have done in my life," says Gonzales.

For the past few months, Gonzales has been selling raffle tickets to win something he's put blood, sweat and tears into, his 1967 Oldsmobile Cutlas 442. He also wants people to know, he's not parting ways with the car to make money, but rather raise money to help pay for his brother's medical bills. His brother Gilbert was recently diagnosed with stage four brain cancer.

"Gilbert, he's been the rock in the family," says Gonzales. "He's been a good brother, he's been a good dad, he's been a good husband and he's been a good good friend."

Gonzales says he and his brother used to have fun with muscle cars when they were young and this seemed to be the perfect way to give back, raffling off a real mean machine.

"On a totally serious note with this car here, it's not a toy. It's got a tremendous amount of horse power..." adds Gonzales.

He says the car runs really well with a big block engine under the hood, fat tires in the back and an exhaust you can hear for blocks.

"I've got plenty of knuckle busters on this car," adds Gonzales. "I've spent a lot of money and a lot of time…"

The raffle tickets are $2 each.  Gonzales says the car can mostly be seen in the Wal Mart parking lot in Belen on weekends.  This Saturday, the car will be taken to the Wal Mart parking lot in Socorro, New Mexico. Then, it will be in Albuquerque on Saturday, November 3 in the parking lot of the K Mart on Atrisco and Central in the southwest part of town.

If you would like to find out where the car will be on display for the weekend and where you can buy tickets, you can reach Art Gonzales through e-mail at c_young73@hotmail.com.