Today (Monday), I also accomplished something
that’s been in the works for 34 years. John bought a 1957 Chevy pickup not too
long after we married. He drove it for years, and then it had the place of
honor in the driveway. For AJ’s 16th birthday, John gave him that Chevy
pickup. For AJ’s birthday, he received a bunch of parts, i.e., spark plugs,
hoses, etc., so the pickup would run again.
AJ’s birthday is mid-September and the
truck and its new parts all sat around. The end of October, I told John AJ was
very disappointed in him. He wanted to know why. I told him it was because AJ
had been 16 with a driver’s license for going on two months and the truck wasn’t
running.
John worked for himself and hadn’t
taken any days off since AJ’s birthday. So, the upcoming weekend, John took off
and together they worked on the pickup.
All the
new parts got installed and things looked great until they put gas in the gas tank.
John had put water in the gas tank and it hadn’t leaked, so he figured it was
okay. Well, gas has different properties and the tank leaked. It wasn’t drivable
until that was fixed.
So, John had me sell my little orange
bug to AJ so he’d have something to drive. AJ ordered a license plate for it
that said, SWTORNG which stood for Sweet Orange…his dad always referred to it
as Sweaty Orange. That meant I had to go find myself another car. I went
looking. At the time, Volvos were the in car and everyone who had one thought
they were the absolute best. I found a great Toyota downtown. I also found a
Volvo in Edmonds. Well, John was far too busy to go hither, thither and yon, so
he bought the Volvo. That car was the absolute worst car I’ve ever had in my
life. I should have insisted on returning it the morning after it came home.
One of the neighbors called and said lights were on. I don’t remember now what
the problem was, but it was only the beginning. 
That lauded by friends Volvo ended up
costing me a ton of money having this fixed and that fixed. I don’t know about
now, but then, the only parts that fit a Volvo were Volvo parts, so you had to
purchase and pay whatever they wanted. I know I ended up putting in a new
transmission, a new drive cable (that’s probably not the right terminology) and
my mind refuses to recall any of the other problems. 
John’s dad had a drinking problem and
had purchased a 1989 Ford Mustang Hatchback. I think it had been one of the
demonstration vehicles at the Ford dealership. In any case, being an
ex-policeman, he was cut some slack when he was stopped for driving
erratically. Eventually, it came to the point where he could no longer drive.
He gave that mustang to John, who gave it to me to drive.
That meant I could finally eliminate
the Volvo. It was in the process of developing a new problem…the starter was
dying. I found a buyer who was willing to give me the $5,000 I was asking for
it. He wanted me to drop the price, but I was honest and told him I’d ask even
more if I had the starter problem fixed before I sold it. I’m selling it as is.
He bought it anyway.
The afternoon the purchaser brought me
a cashier’s check, I stood in the dining room with my fingers crossed, chanting,
“Please start, please start, please start.” It did and drove away, never to be
seen by me again. As it disappeared over the hill, I danced around the house and
waving that check. I drove the mustang until the end of 2003 when I bought my
first Toyota Rav4. That purchase really annoyed John because when they brought
the paperwork to us, it was in my name only. About damn time…I was only 58
then.
Anyway, to return to the 1957 Chevy
pickup. John drove it to AJ's house around 2004, so it ran, but barely. The '57 lived
in his garage until he was ready to spend some time and a bit of money.
Initially, it looked as though AJ might give it to Haley for her 16th
birthday. Instead he found a great
Toyota pickup with BIG tires which was just what she wanted. Actually, she wants
some fancy Dodge pickup that is even bigger. With the Toyota, Nana almost needs
a stepstool to get inside.
AJ
and Haley worked on the ‘57 together doing all kinds of stuff, i.e., a tune up,
new brake system including wheel cylinders and master cylinder, new gas tank, and
exhaust system. It took them three tries to get the right carburetor installed.
My granddaughter climbed under that truck with her dad and knows the difference
in various wrenches and tools…something I never knew or will know. Amazingly,
they got it running and actually drove it around the block. John got to see a
video of it being driven, but never again got the chance to ride in it.
  |
| 1957 TODAY |