"If one is good then two must be better"...........

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knife7knut
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Location: Tecumseh,Michigan

"If one is good then two must be better"...........

Post by knife7knut »

Having recounted the story of how I finally managed to achieve my childhood dream of owning a 1955 Pontiac Custom Safari wagon,I set about decorating it a bit with examples of my art work and starting driving it to my jobs as well as various local car shows and,"cruise nights".
One day I got a reply to my application to attend a car show in my home state of Massachusetts. The show was called,"the Ty-Rods Old Timers Reunion" and it was kind of unique in comparison to other shows. First of all it was by invitation only and the cars had to be built before 1959 and was limited to just 1,200 entries;mainly because that was all the field could hold.They didn't give out trophies but your entry fee entitled you to a high quality double sided event T-shirt;a coffee(or soft drink)mug emblazoned with the shirt emblem and the first drink of your choice(no alcohol)for free and a dash plaque all of which just about added up to the entry fee if you were to buy them separately.
It had another unique feature:it was held on a Monday;specifically the first Monday after Labor Day. In the hot rod fraternity in New England this event was more like a national holiday. So we made plans to drive the Safari to the show and spend a few days visiting friends and relatives there.
The trip out was pretty much uneventful(unlike subsequent trips;but those are stories for another time)and we got a motel room in my home town.The manager happened to be a former classmate of mine and we had a good time catching up on each other's lives since high school. We also started hitting some of our favorite restaurants in the area that I had introduced my bride to.
The show was fantastic as usual and I got to see a lot of old friends and make a few new ones.Even did a little pinstriping at the show.One of my old friends had never seen the Safari and in the course of our conversation he mentioned that he knew someone that had one for sale but it was slightly different from mine. As he described it,I thought that it might be one that I used to see around that had originally been built as a race car by a friend of mine in the early 1960's.After he had sold it the new owner had painted it blue and jacked it up to look like an old gasser. I only had seen it a couple of times and that was many years ago.
I told him I would like to see it and maybe purchase it and he said he would get in touch with the owner.
He called the next day and said that we could go take a look at it so I met him at his shop and we drove over to where it was housed. The garage was a cinder block type in a row of several garages that were partially set into the side of a hill. We met the owner and he tried opening the lock for about a half hour before it finally let loose. He swung the doors open and I was greeted with the first view of the car.
Actually all I could see was the front fenders,grille,and part of the hood.I couldn't really tell the color because there was so much dirt on the surface.The car was piled high with green trash bags and a couple old bicycle frames.I noticed the floor of the garage was dirt which didn't bode well.I wondered if the floors were still in the car.
After clearing a path to the driver's door,I managed to get it open and look inside. The first thing I saw(and remembered)was the wood grain dash insert(actually a piece of Formica)that Jerry(the original owner)had put in to cover up the stock instruments and the Stewart-Warner accessory gauges he had installed. The second thing I noticed was the word,"Safari"hand lettered on the glove box door.
That brought back the memory of me painting it for Jerry when he was building the car in the gas station he work at in 1963. I had forgotten all about it! Right then I decided that I would own this car.
Checking the floors and found they were very much intact.In fact the whole interior was very dried out;indicating that moisture inside the garage had not been a problem. I also noticed that it had a Massachusetts annual motor vehicle inspection sticker on the windshield dated 1979.Dan told me this was the last year he had driven it.(It was now 1995).
We negotiated a price and as I could not get it out immediately I told him I would pick it up in the spring and pay the rent on the garage until then. I now owned TWO Safari wagons!
When I got back home I sent Dan a check for the car and the rent and the following April drove out with my son and his friend with a trailer to pick it up.THAT is a whole other adventure!
I had called my friend Don and asked him to pick up some used tires and wheels to throw on so I could move the car. He did one better and pulled off the old Cragar SS wheels and took them to his shop and cleaned the beads and re-inflated them.The old Goodyear Wide Ovals were a bit age cracked but still held air and the brakes even still worked!.
As a footnote:I had big plans to re-build the car so it would be able to be driven on the street(it was still a race car)for my wife,but she had no interest in driving it. Then I was beset by a series of medical issues that would leave it sitting in the garage for several years.And there it sat until I sold it two years ago to finance a badly needed roof on our house. Hopefully the new owner will finish it and bring it back to the road again.
Here are a few pictures of it when Jerry first built it and then when Dan owned it and a couple at my house. One is the day I brought it home and washed off 17 years of accumulated dirt. Another is of it leaving on a trailer with it's new owner. A sad day for me.
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1957PontiacCustomSafariWagon 1.jpg
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1957PontiacSafariDetailPics 017.jpg
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1957PontiacSafari1.jpg
!957PontiacSafariGoodbye 008.jpg
Adventure BEFORE Dementia!
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KLJ77
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Location: Virginia ~ Tidewater Area

Re: "If one is good then two must be better"...........

Post by KLJ77 »

Great story, Ray. ::tu:: I'm sorry that second Safari didn't work out for you, but some good memories. Your story reminded me of the 58 Chevy 348 Dog 4 barrel I had as a teenager. That car would move! I'm lucky to be alive. ::facepalm::
LJ

"The problems we face today are there because the people who work for a living are now outnumbered by those that vote for a living."
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