It Was 10 Years Ago Today…

It Was 10 Years Ago Today…

March 7th, 2007 my daughter Josephine was born. I’ll never forget that feeling bringing our first baby home from the hospital and realizing that life as we knew it would never be the same again. I had already spent a few months looking for the perfect 50s era wagon to drive my little girl to school in (never mind it would be at least 4 or 5 years until I would need so), and my choice had narrowed down to the 55-57 Pontiac Star Chief Safari Custom wagon. Why that car? It was much rarer than a Nomad, which had no rear doors for my new baby to fall out of, and I just liked the look of them. By late April I finally had a lead on a ’57 Safari (the lowest production year at 1,292 units) in So Cal, and headed south with a trailer to grab it.

Unfortunately the car was much rougher than I was lead to believe- Crud, filth, rust, decay, neglect; just a few words to sum up how thrashed this car was; Broken windows, no front floors, crunched quarter panel, rotted roof panel, moldy interior and rusty trim. The generator and voltage reg. along with the liftgate, air cleaner, radiator support, horns, etc., had been robbed long ago as well. Should I pass on this thing? Here I was 350 miles from home with an empty trailer and a pocket full of cash. After hard negotiating and much wringing of hands, we loaded the barnacle barge up and headed back to the Bay Area.

Imagine the look on my tired and hormonal wife’s face, holding our newborn, as my buddy and I dropped in the brake-less, non-running project on the driveway. She just shook her head and said, “Probably not the best purchase with a new baby at home… At least make it safe for us to drive in. I don’t want this thing breaking down on us.”

10 years later I’ve got an amazing 10 year old daughter who still loves to go to school in the back of our Safari wagon…

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