like the one below, he gave me his 1961 Impala convertible.
He lived in Sudbury and I in Saint John, New Brunswick, so I had to take my very first plane trip to Toronto and then to Sudbury to pick it up. What I got was similar (same colour) to the Impala in the pic. Yes, it had some rust, but it was 7 years old and that's what old cars did back then. But I was 19 and it was a convertible - big man on campus? Now on the east coast, convertible days were (and are) few, but down came that top whenever there was a hint of sun. Also a couple of trips down the coast to Boston and Cape Cod - warm weather at last!
Not exactly sure why, but only kept that Chevy for about a year. Then I really stepped up (in my mind) to a 2 door hardtop 1964 Ford Fairlane 500, light yellow with tan buckets - wow, I had arrived! It looked great, but.........
...........but there were some minor bubbles on the front fender. Nothing to worry about? I took off the hubcaps, painted the wheels black with silver trim and added a sharp looking spoiler. From the perspective of several years later that spoiler looked like hell. I should have left it the way it was, but that was then, now is now.
Great car, until the engine started blowing oil all over itself and under the hood. Used 12 quarts of oil one snowy, cold winter's night on the 60 mile drive from university to my home. The night from hell. Sold the car for scrap. Oh and about that rust? It came thru both front fenders in a big way. Remember, that's what cars did in those days.
This brings us up to my graduating from university without a car.
Until next time.........
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