Hot Rods A very pleasant surprise at the car show

We had a little car show at the June Fling in town this past Saturday. I drove the 51 down to it..
It's the first car show/cruise in I have attended as a participant in 30 years.

You know how it is...."Meh".... I have not really missed much.

I did enjoy talking to the gentleman who was all over my Coupe. He had one in the early 60s. I enjoyed that.

I was impressed with a 49 Chevy Coupe. It had a 261 4 speed, dual Carter/Webers and Fenton Headers. It was a really nice car.

Of course the older ladies would ask questions and tell about their Daddy's car. I enjoy that.

Then there's the people I used to know. You have to say something...Hello. How you doing...yeah OK bye....

I spied a white Galaxie, a 1962 Victoria Club Coupe. So I had to get a closer look. I had one just like it. This car was nice but the more I looked. The more familiar it became. Through the open window I stared at the dash. Man it brought back memories but, there was something else.. Mine was a 352 Cruisomatic car. This car was a 390 4 speed.
Untitled by Travis Brown, on Flickr
Untitled by Travis Brown, on Flickr
Untitled by Travis Brown, on Flickr
Untitled by Travis Brown, on Flickr
Untitled by Travis Brown, on Flickr

I talked to the gentleman that owned it and in conversation it became clear....
This car was my old Galaxie!
Ahhhh the memory goes back....
1991
The last cruise...the last real cruise of my life...Center Point AL 1991. That summer I had bought the Ford. I was 19. There was a giant parking lot full of young folks. It was like a one year reunion. Hot Rods and girls. Little did we know that it was the end of an era.....

This rusty ass car come loping by, I told my friend who was standing by me..."Either that's a big piece of junk or he's bad." That car pulled out of the lot and at the light change he did a wheel stand. I looked at my friend and said..."Yep, he's bad."
That friend was Jody. Maybe some of you remember Jody and I finding the race car in the woods.

I saw Sean Saye...He had his military hair cut. He was in the Navy. He worked with the Seals. I was surprised how muscular Sean was. Sean was always a slight fellow. He looked like he could chew nails and spit out bolts.
Sean was training to be a pilot. Within a year or so we lost Sean in the Pacific due to a helicopter crash. They said it was a seal team training mission but you never know.

Across from the big parking lot was a Krystal's. More than once I crushed the tailpipes under the bumper of that Galaxie pulling into that Krystal's.
A short time later....
I was sweet on this girl and we dated. Not always in the Galaxie it shared time with my Chevelle. I took her for ride when I got the Galaxie. She commented laughed about that big back seat. Of course nothing happened. She was a tease and I was too much of a gentleman.

I took her to the June Jam in Fort Payne in that '62 Ford. It was over a 200 mile round trip. The Country Group Alabama used to put on the June Jam yearly. That year they had....Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson, Trisha Yearwood, Martha McBride, and many others. It was right before a lot of those folks became superstars.
It took us as long to get from the Fort Payne exit to the concert, as it did for us to go from Birmingham to Ft Payne. It was the Middle of June in the Middle of the day. Stop and go traffic for two hours. That old Ford got....Hot!!!
All of her Make up melted off. She drank a big bottle of Gatorade she brought for us...all by herself. Then she asked the question..."Does this car have air conditioning?" "Nope". I replied. "Well my car does" she replied.
We got to the concert and had a wonderful time. The whole time I was haunted by the thought....I hope that old Ford cranks back up. Well it did and got us home. It was smooth cool sailing going down I 59 that cool summer night. That 352 was singing.
We got to her house nd pulled in. We got out and she said, "Travis! Your car!" There was a light haze of smoke coming out from under the hood. " Aww, It's alright." I said...and it was.
I walked her up to the porch and kissed her goodnight. That was my first real kiss.

Yep, that '62 brought back lots of memories.
When I had it the paint was faded. The front seat needed to be re done, some of the seams had split. It sure was nice to see it. It was a blessing.

Most of the time you have no idea what happened to the cars of your youth. Again it was so good to see it and to see it done up nice. I sold that old car in '98. I often wondered what became of it.

It was my favorite.

 

Great story!
KK

 

I enjoyed your reflections. I often wonder what happened to my old cars too.

 

Great story and fantastic that the car found it's self a great home.

 

Once again, great story, and it's a super looking car now. Memories like
that are priceless.

 

Thanks for sharing!

 

My second car was a 62 Galaxie 2dr sedan. 390 3 speed. That thing would kill 3 speeds! Motor had a Melling cam, headers and a 780 Holley. Fun car until the trans would break. Ended up puting a CM in it. It was the same color inside and out as your old one.

 

right place at the right time - sometimes finding a ride that you sold/traded is not a good experience due to strange stuff done - but, yours ended with the right guy

 

Yeah, I don't really like seeing my old builds. They usually fall into 2 categories...
1) Man, they sure fucked that up.
2)Man, I shoulda never sold it.

 

Had a '65 Falcon 2 dr. wagon with a hopped up 289 and a T-10 in HS/college. Sold it to a guy I worked with when I got drafted. Came home on leave and saw it sitting in his driveway with the entire driver side bashed in from the door to the tailgate. He side swiped a power pole at who knows what speed. No Idea what he did with it after that but there were some good memories in the car. Both driving and not.

 

Seeing the car was bittersweet.
There was a crossroads with the Galaxie in 1995. It was all rather by accident.

I was enamored by a Shoebox Ford and had been since I was little. My red '50 come up for sale and I went to look at it. I had the money in my pocket. The coupe was nice but.....

NO joke!!!
Behind the Coupe, wrapped in plastic on the shop floor was a 1962 Ford 406 FE with a heavy spline toploader 4 speed. The engine was fresh from the machine shop. The fellow that had coupe said the 406 and transmission was for sale. He wanted the same price for that combo as he wanted for the 50 Coupe, $3900. I had that 1962 Ford Galaxie 500 Victoria Club Coupe at home!

Now the 406 wrapped in plastic was 4BBl not the six pack, but still....

Man that was a tough one. I could just taste that 406 and 4 speed in that Galaxie.

Then he cranked up the '50 Business Coupe. It had a 239 with Edelbrock heads. It ran really sweet.
Thus....I bought the coupe instead of that 406...


I got the 50 Coupe home and the first thing it did was blow all the water out of the radiator. A cylinder ended up being cracked. Then my journey began with Shoeboxes, flatheads, eventually the F1 and finally now back to a Shoebox Coupe...
DSCN0237 by Travis Brown, on Flickr
Untitled by Travis Brown, on Flickr
197336335_5828413847199353_3347513394990484262_n by Travis Brown, on Flickr
^^^ That's me in the brown hat and much much younger version of me next to the red Coupe back in '98.
It would have been much different if I chose that 406. Life would have been different. Who knows, It might have killed me.
That was really it for the Galaxie. The 352 needed rings and it was just sitting. You can't keep them all. For a while I tried.

As much as love a Flathead car, I'm never truly comfortable in one. I'll drive the fire out of one and enjoy it but.....
There's always a little worry.
Is it getting too hot?
Am I being too hard on it?
Will the oil look like chocolate milk the next time I check it?

Now a 406 Galaxie with the Heavy Nascar 4 speed with the factory 9" out back, All you have to worry about is, where is next gas Station.
I made my choice and I'm happy with that.
It sure is good to see it with a FE and 4speed.

 

.................or, dang, they removed one of the two fog lamps!....

 

My 3rd car was a 62 500xl. red on red, 390 4 speed. I had my 1st love affair in that car. It left for a 64 fairlane 500 sport coupe. Hipo 289 and 4 speed. The love affair didn't transfer to the next car. LOL.

 

Great story! However I would have been more impressed if the back seat had to be recovered!

 

And past girlfriends.

Ben

 

and the ones who would not dance with you

 

I've seen some of the old girlfriends I used to have! My wife is much better, I made good choices.

I've seen some of the old cars and trucks I used to have as well, most of them left my ownership because of reasons I had at the time. Nearly always, I made good choices concerning them as well. With the few instances where the past rides may still hold an interest to me, I recall the reason(s) I left them go at the time. Sometimes those reasons don't look as good now as they did back when I made the choices. Its probably a good thing we can't go back and change those decisions, who knows what other things those changes may have altered. I'm pretty happy with life the way it is right now. Gene

 

Great memories story.

 

LOL! They probably made a good choice.

Ben

 

Thanks for sharing. I know a guy with a 62 "box top" , an original 406 car. He blew the 406 & it now has a built 410 Mercury in it. GR8 scarey ride !

 

Most things I prefer to remember as they were, others (like old cars) not so much. Glad you found one of your old Sweethearts, plus she’s gotten Better with age!

 

Great story! Thanks for sharing! I often wonder what happened to a couple of my first cars that most of my early memories were in or around. But, I am also fine not knowing because of the same thoughts as some of the comments here. Glad your encounter turned out good.

 

Up or down, all the old cars I have owned were rungs to the ladder. All of them were lessons. Perhaps the Galaxie was the best of these. Like I said, it was my favorite. It always will be.

With that said, I really wouldn't want to climb that ladder again. The Galaxie is one of those cars I "should have done this", I "should have done that".
The thing is I did not.
It was my car in a place and time and there it belongs, there it shall remain. That was then and this is now.

It's kind of like.....fish.
Imagine you are in the boat and catch a really big fish. You got 'em. He could be either a humongous trophy catfish or a really nice Bass. The truth is, big ole catfish ain't really good to eat. They taste kind of like river mud. Bass ain't much better.
So, you let him go and let someone else catch him or maybe he's never caught again...
The thing is, it's not about the trophy, it's about the trip.

The truth is I could probably get that car. I could sell. Trade....pester the guy.
Why?
I've had my trip. That boat dropped the anchor a long long time ago.

I'll add this....

We see "I'm searching for Dad's car....Granddaddy's car topics a lot.
Why?
I get it I understand it, but truthfully, what would you really do if you did get it?

Instead of that, why not have new trips. Why not not build your own car and make new memories?

One of your old cars??
It's kind of like that girl I mentioned. We dated again a few years later. Suddenly on the second go around, I remembered why we quit dating the first place. Yeah, I could have kept it going but that time had passed.

I guess what I'm saying is, you can't go back and when you do, you find out you really don't belong.
New cars...new fish...new memories....

Besides, is really more fun to talk about the fish than look at it's dead ass on the wall.

 

I think we all have stories or memories about cars and/or girl friends that we never should have sold/let go. Sometimes when they turn up again we realize that was good that we parted ways. And sometimes not.

 

Great explanation!

 

Owning a car, and building a car are 2 different things. Maybe owning a car for a while is comparable to a fish or a girlfriend, but building one from scratch, it becomes more like your child...you put your heart and soul into it. It's a much deeper connection than just seeing a car you once owned.
Back in my young (poorer) days, I would build a new hot rod about every 3 years, but would have to sell the current rod to finance/finish the new build. Although every build got a little better, I still let some pretty cool one go.

A couple of my old builds I would buy back in a heartbeat, if previous owners didn't fuck them up too bad.

 

1963 and I'm serious car shopping. Found a '62 Galaxie, 406, tri-power, 4 speed at a Ford dealer next town over. I'd saved up all my hay baling money and had enough for the down payment but the salesman said I'd have to get my parents to co-sign the loan. My dad had split a couple of years earlier so that left just my Mom. She went with me to look at it and seemed to be impressed with the color, the interior, the new tires and I thought, " I'm in ". Next thing I know, I hear the salesman tell my Mom, " You know he'll kill himself in that car ". He may well have been right but I've never forgiven him. There was just nothing cool about the '62 Olds F-85 4 door the salesman and my Mom decided I needed.

 

thanks for sharing, stimulated lots of old memories of my own - have had my current rides more than 30 years - I know what happened to most of my other cars, some stories tragic, some good - would like to have back: my HS '50 Chevy, '65 Mustang 4-sp 289, '67 GTO black on black Hurst dual-gate, hood tach

 

I'm too young for my first car to have been anything HAMB friendly, but I do have something sentimentally relevant: my first car was recently destroyed in an apartment fire. I loved that little car. I sold it about 8 years ago to cover the down payment on my truck. It never got to be a classic but it was a faithful friend to me and its last owner, giving us a combined total of 265,000 trouble-free miles.

Unfortunately the owner lost everything in that fire.

 

I'm sorry about that and I hate to hear that owner lost their possessions.