Pappy
Living the Dream
A little something I wrote to my newspaper blog, the Norwich Sun many years ago. It is rather long but for a 16 year old kid, it was one of the best days of my life. Your first car.
I'll never forget mine. The year was 1953 and my Dad had called and wanted me to visit him in Utica. So, I hopped on the New York Central and looked foward to spending a few days with him. After meeting me at the Utica Station, we took off to go down to Pitcher St. where he lived.
As we turned into the driveway, I noticed an old car setting in the lot next to driveway. We got out of his car and he walked over to the ugly green monster. Dad said, "what do you think of her" I said looks ok to me but when did you buy it? His answer was, "uncle Ted gave it to me and I'm giving it to you" After I picked my jaw off the ground, I went over to look at that beautiful car. It was looking better all the time.
Being 16 years old and having my own car was almost unheard of back then. Only the kids with rich parents could afford a car. Suddenly, I was the richest kid in the world. Oh, the car was a 1937 Buick, Special 60, opera coupe. One large bench front seat and 2 little seats in the back that folded down. However, the back was really crowded as there was very little room.
I recently saw this model car sell for over $15,000 on Ebay. Who knew. Anyway, in the trunk was a old coffee pot and a 5 gal. can of oil. I soon found out why.. A trip down West Hill and a few cruises around Norwich took at least a quart of oil. The big straight 8 was a oil eater.
I spent one whole winter painting gangsta white sidewalls on the tires and several coats of wax brought back the original shine. Boy, was I proud of that monster. Driving to school in my junior year was a dream come true.
Time passed and after several transmission replacements, I had to let the ole bus go. Someone on River Rd. bought her and I would see it tooling around town for quite some time.
I'll never forget mine. The year was 1953 and my Dad had called and wanted me to visit him in Utica. So, I hopped on the New York Central and looked foward to spending a few days with him. After meeting me at the Utica Station, we took off to go down to Pitcher St. where he lived.
As we turned into the driveway, I noticed an old car setting in the lot next to driveway. We got out of his car and he walked over to the ugly green monster. Dad said, "what do you think of her" I said looks ok to me but when did you buy it? His answer was, "uncle Ted gave it to me and I'm giving it to you" After I picked my jaw off the ground, I went over to look at that beautiful car. It was looking better all the time.
Being 16 years old and having my own car was almost unheard of back then. Only the kids with rich parents could afford a car. Suddenly, I was the richest kid in the world. Oh, the car was a 1937 Buick, Special 60, opera coupe. One large bench front seat and 2 little seats in the back that folded down. However, the back was really crowded as there was very little room.
I recently saw this model car sell for over $15,000 on Ebay. Who knew. Anyway, in the trunk was a old coffee pot and a 5 gal. can of oil. I soon found out why.. A trip down West Hill and a few cruises around Norwich took at least a quart of oil. The big straight 8 was a oil eater.
I spent one whole winter painting gangsta white sidewalls on the tires and several coats of wax brought back the original shine. Boy, was I proud of that monster. Driving to school in my junior year was a dream come true.
Time passed and after several transmission replacements, I had to let the ole bus go. Someone on River Rd. bought her and I would see it tooling around town for quite some time.