I've been dealing with my Dad's health issues for the past couple months. He "collected" things and to get him home I need to make it habitable again.... meaning spending every night and Saturday and Sunday in the old neighborhood cleaning it out. When I was a teenager (40ish years ago), I spotted a '32 coupe in a neighbors garage and had a brief conversation with him about it. He took a few boxes off the top of a "pile", and pulled back the cloth tarp to reveal a maroon 5 window with an excellent body. He showed me a couple intakes he had squirreled away above his work bench..... 2 deuces and a dual quad. Being young and dumb I asked the obvious question.... how much ya want for it? "It's my first car, and I'll never sell it". I moved out of Dad's place and went on with life, but occasionally I'd think back and wonder if he was still around and if that deuce was still under the tarp and boxes in his garage. My oldest son and I spent a few days filling up a 40 yard roll-off dumpster at Dad's place, and when pulling up Friday morning saw an old guy in the neighbor's driveway climbing on a Gold Wing. I flipped a U and pulled up in front of his place. I got out and asked if he remembered me (the PIA kid in the old '54 wagon around the corner), and not surprisingly he didn't. I recapped our last conversation some 40 years ago and asked if the deuce was still in the garage. "Sure is", he said. "Still keeping it 'til you die", I ask? "Sure am". I asked if the (as I remembered) nailhead was still in it. No, it has an Olds in it, and the intakes are still over the bench. He had to leave to visit a sick friend, but as I left to go deal with my Dad's issues, I felt oddly good for the first time in weeks. I don't know that I'll ever get my hands on the deuce, but I guess it just made me feel good that it was still there frozen in time. Or maybe it was just that after all these years there was still a chance.....
Sorry to hear of your Dads issues and hope things work out for you all. That said...I enjoyed reading the rest of the little blurb! After all these years...theres ALWAYS a chance. NEVER give up on your dreams.
I wish your Dad well in his health issues. He is blessed to have a Son like you who is looking after him and making sure he is doing well. Some day your Sons may have to return the same favor to you. Life is kinda like that. If you are like me, the first thing you probably noticed when you went back home was how small everything is. When I went back to my old stomping grounds about 10 years ago everything looked so different and so little. The house I grew up in looked like a doll house and I remembered it as being huge. Keep in touch with the Deuce owner because the day will come when someone will buy it, either from him or his estate, and it might as well be you. How great would it be to finally score the car of your teenage dreams ? Don
Best of luck and prayers for your dad. Sounds like you need to become friends with the old neighbor, warm up to him for a while. Take him some beers.
Prayers going up for your dad! Some of the most comforting things are knowing that some things never change - even down to the two intakes still sitting too!
One of the soldiers form the "32 community" is now looking for that car... Or.... the mother ship already knows about it...... Hope your Dad gets well.
The Jalopy Journal
