He needs to be here, if he's not already.... That was fucking awesome, something about his voice says "I've been around long enough to know I can still kick your ass, no matter how old I look"
Nice! I remember when my dad brought home that 1956 Plymouth. With fins! Our 1951 Stude Starlight coupe had been t-boned by a guy in a 1949 Ford and the frame was bent. Dad found the Plymouth, a repo, for $1795 (IIRC), low miles, late 1956. We went all over the country in that car. My younger brother graduated HS in 1969, driving the Plymouth. 277 V8, two speed auto, pushbutton trans. Great memories in that old Plymouth.
I remember "when cars had fins". I'd sit on the porch steps on warm summer Sunday mornings, and watch all the church-goers dressed-up and wearing their best hats, line the streets in front of the big old Catholic church with their shiny "finmobiles". The old couple in their '70s, who lived across the street, and drove a perfectly-original dove-gray-colored '37 Chevy coupe. Women smelled of perfume, and men smelled of Old Spice and Brylcream. Nobody had heard of the "Beatles". "Muscle-car" wasn't even a word yet. Old bad-assed late '30s and '40s coupes still roamed the streets, and a kid like me would yell to 'em, "Hey!...lay a patch!", and they'd do it. The kid's father down the street, who restored 3 late '50s/early '60s Vettes over the course of 5 years. Mid '50s Fords and Chevys with personas like they could eat another car if they wanted to. A "jacked-up" car was a good thing. Rump-rump-rump! No front bumper, black steel wheels with chrome lug-nuts...so cool. I remember..."when cars had fins".
That was apropos.....very well spoken and with the bravado of all the power a hot rod could muster.........
The Jalopy Journal
