A Transparent Error…

The Mercury Sun Valley debuted as ‘America’s First Transparent-Top Car’, a Plexiglas dream machine put into regular production for 1954. That year, my dad Jerry was just another wide-eyed 13 year old drooling at these exciting new Mercs when they first hit the streets of his native Kansas City. One thing Pops did have however, was a running car of his own- A tattered 1936 Plymouth coupe. He bought a large piece of blue-tinted plastic and carefully measured his old coupe’s roof insert. With a little cutting, a tube of dum-dum glue, and short while later, the Plymouth was transformed into a cruisin’ cerulean skylight. Dad has vivid memories of hearing the rain outside that night and getting into the car, just to watch the water coming straight down on his cool new roof.

The next day he jumped in the newly-customized coupe and headed downtown, inquiring where the tallest building in the city was located. The under-aged driver was pointed towards the 34 story Kansas City Power and Light Building, where he proudly parked the Plymouth right out front and headed up to the observation balconies on 32. From this view point, young Jerry could really take in the perfect view of his handiwork in blue-roofed coupe parked far below. As the teen gazed over the side of the tower, beaming with pride, he noticed a black truck hooking up to his car, and watched helplessly as it was towed out of sight.

Parking in a tow-away business zone was a foreign concept to a 13 year old boy, who now had a very long and lonely walk home…