Friday, March 19, 2010
The "Chick Magnet Fairlane" Story
It was an ordinary day. I had just traded my 1955 Ford Fairlane for a 1987 Chevy Impala. The Chevy was really neat. Convertible, V8, stick shift, chick magnet. But, my old '55 was a great car also. It was 8 years old when I bought it. Pretty neat colors. Pink (actually called Tropical Rose) and snowshoe white. Really classy. It had fender skirts, lots of chrome, bench seat so your girlfriend could sit next to you, classy hubcaps and fins in the back. I loved the car, but I loved every car I bought when I was young. I did make some alterations when I bought the car. Added a Holley 4 barrel carburetor and glass packs which made the car sound throaty and much faster than it was. It was pretty fast with the 8 cylinder automatic with a 4 barrel carb. I drove it for about a year and so many guys told me it looked sissy. Pink they would say! Why don't you buy a man's car. Something red, blue or even black. OK! I had to do it. I walked a block to Mohn Brother's Buick and inquired if they could paint the car for me. I could see the door of the body shop from my house and knew they painted cars in it. They said they could and told me if I did all the prep work they would charge me only for the paint. Wouldn't even charge for the labor, since I was a neighbor. We picked a time and I started sanding. A lot of hard hand work, but I got it done in plenty of time. Had to keep it in a neighbor's garage when I wasn't working on it so it wouldn't rust or get marked as I sanded it. The big day came and I drove it to the body shop. They primered the car first and then started with the color I picked. I watched the next day as they pulled it from the big double doors into the early morning sunlight. It was beautiful. Called her "Black Beauty." Shortly thereafter I added teardrop spot lights (the kind that were only for looks), a tachometer, tailpipe extensions and some furry dice for the mirror. Now I was set. Except! Now my friends started in on me with ............. the inside is still the sissy pink and white. Now that wasn't something that I was going to have fixed. So, I sold it and bought the Chevy. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. PS - neither pixs are my car. I found them on the internet, but they both look EXACTLY like my car did before and after the paint job (except for the add-ons I made to "Black Beauty." Bottom black car is a collector's car while the car on top is for sale for $19,995.00. If only I hadn't painted it and kept it til now.
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