Saturday afternoon, June 28, was a good day to put hides to the road to Jasper for the JMA Cruise-In sponsored by the Jasper Merchants Association. The weather cooperated as the forecasted showers remained on the other side of the mountains until later that evening. My wife had hinted that we need to descend into the crawl space of our home, which is large enough to conceal a Ryder truck and has enough stuff to fill one, to organize and consolidate.
Realizing that somewhere between organizing and consolidating, lies lifting, heaving, and restacking heavy boxes of stuff we no longer need, I dealt a preemptive blow to the project by suggesting we attend the Main Street Cruise-In.
It was an especially successful ploy that even included an early steak dinner at the Sharp Mountain Grille.
The first car that compelled us to approach it was a 44 Ford Coupe Deluxe with chrome spokes. The years between 1944 and 2008 quickly blur if the observer can imagine getting gussied up to cruise Jasper boulevards on a Saturday night in this beauty. Sixty-four years ago, with its beige paint glistening in the moonlight and the sheen of burgundy leather seats beckoning under dim interior lighting, this steely steed could not have turned heads any easier than it does today.
As Dion belted out his famous doo-wop ditty, The Wanderer, we walked down Main Street in a bit of a nostalgic trance. Our next stop was a cherry-red 69 Malibu SS 396, with black leather buckets and interior. The owner presented it as unaltered, mentioning that there are probably more fake SS series than originals, and that I could tell this ones authenticity by the VIN number. I took him at his word - the car was gorgeous!
Normally, in a classic and vintage car presentation like the JMA Cruise-In, a 46 Chevy pick-up truck is not expected to be a crowd favorite. But I feel the need to buck that conception here, because I personally favored this particular 46 Chevy truck.
It is orange; like a ripe naval orange in color, but smooth as glass with long, rounded fenders painted shiny, jet-black.
A sparkling chrome grill features both vertical and horizontal designs just above a gleaming chrome bumper.
The little windshield wipers are mounted on the top forward edge of the cab, just above the windshield. Everything about this 46 Chevy is rounded off. The hood, fenders, and outside-mirrors - even the ends of the bumpers are round.
Its head-lights and park-lights are perched atop the huge front fenders like friendly eyes.
The 46 Chevy pick-up is as immaculate and perfectly restored as any of the 60s muscle cars, 32 and 34 Ford hot-rod coupes and ragtops, or vintage 30s Oldsmobiles, but this is not what makes it stand out.
You see, the truck has character. From eye-brow wipers to the long, rubber running boards, it seems to speak Deco charm to the audience. The smooth round lines and sheer simplicity of design is remarkable. The brilliant orange and glossy black truck is the little engine that keeps saying, I think I can, I think I can, decade after decade. Somehow, it exhibits the sturdy determination of post-war America in a mechanical form.
Owners Horace and Janell Walker were sitting in canvas recreation chairs on the shaded sidewalk near Three Sisters emporium chatting with some friends when I interrupted them. Horace and Janell are friendly, sort of like their truck, and he proceeded to tell me how the items framed and leaning against the front bumper were found lodged deep under the seat when they took procession of the shattered little truck four years ago. The items include a tattered and stained Kent cigarette package, an old, tarnished ignition key, and photos of the little orange truck looking extremely weathered and badly degraded from decades of discard.
Janell claims that she wanted the little truck more than Horace, who probably realized the extensive amount of rebuilding that would be required to bring it back. Obviously, Janell won that bout, and Horace and she spent the last four years putting Humpty-Dumpty back together again.
[Clifton, and wife Leigh, recently relocated to Burnt Mountain from the Tampa Bay area where he spent 25 years selling building materials to major accounts. Throughout this year, he will be sharing his experience as a newcomer with Progress readers.]
|
|
|
| At the Cruise In - The brillant organe and glossy black truck is the little engine that keeps saying, |
|
|
