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Hi All,
It had been a
long time since I was able to get behind the wheel of Penny and take her for a
long drive. 10 years is how long it had been. Then, it was in the Northern
suburbs of Philly, with the smell of cheese steaks and soft pretzels in the
air, now it is the Northern small town streets of California with the smell of
cows in the air. I drove Penny to downtown Red Bluff and it all came back to me.
The smiles on the people's faces, the thumbs up as people pass you, all the
yelled out comments. I realized then and there the thing I like most about these
cars, It's the look of joy and amazement on the faces of the people, time after,
time after, time when they see the car.
Second time out we
hit the town. Their is a theatre in Red Bluff that is and old 40's style
theatre. It was a very popular movie / play held at 11:00pm called "Rocky Horror
Picture Show". I brought the car there at 10:30pm to get the spot right in
front, to get some pictures with the marquee. Wow, (I don't know if this has
happened to any other Imperial owners) come to find out! If you have an old car
parked in front of a theatre, and you have a camera, all these people come out
of nowhere, with hardly any clothes on, and want to pose with your car. Needless
to say, I went through 3 memory sticks and 2 batteries. The problem was, their
were so many people trying to pose, that most of the pictures hardly show much
of my car at all. One shot, I think all you can see is the gas filler cap. The
show was great also, and I highly recommend it.
Penny gets new
sneakers, decals and plates. Ken and Bill will be happy to here I put the 1959
valve cover decals on the engine. I bought a bunch of decals from Jim Osborne
and loved them. I bought Firestone Supreme w/3" whitewall Radial tires form
Diamond Back in South Carolina, they look marvelous, and custom plates that
say 59 LE BRN. Now in the process of tweaking and adjusting and
dialing.
Penny goes to her
first car show. I bought the car back in 1987 and had it in a 1988 club meeting
of the now defunct "Imperial Owners Club International" at Tyler Park in Newtown
Pennsylvania. But this was to be Penny's first car show. I had taken a night off
from work to go on the Friday night cruise up in Redding at the Kool April
Nights event and car show. On the way to my mechanics, I stopped for gas and
was almost hit by some kid flying into the gas station from off the highway
cutting off 2 people and almost backing into the side of my car. I took me an
hour to get over the nausea from my heart almost jumping out my throat. After
some last minute wrenching / welding by my amazing mechanic Bill Rice, Penny was
off for the cruise. I took my sister Kathy and my Brother in-law Don. We had a
great time and turned many heads. Many people would say "look at that Chrysler,
what is it?" or "bitchin ride dude" and "that is SICK", and more then I can
remember. The next day at the car show, which by the way I took a bunch of great
pictures, I had fun sharing the little bit of Imperial history I know and my own
experiences. Penny was the only Imperial there out of the 3000 cars that day.
One lady came to look at the car and asked, Is that your 1959 Imperial? I was
impressed that she knew what it was. I told her it was mine and she said she had
just bought a 1960. She showed me pictures and I told her about the Imperial on
line club and so on. She should be contacting the club in a few months, her name
is Kathy. She owns a 1959 Cadillac that was in the 007 movie "A View To A Kill".
Penny hears some sad news.
I took Penny to get an alignment today and one of the mechanics says "I saw 10
of theses get destroyed this weekend" I said "what years?". He said
"1961's, 2's and 3's they won't let them use 64's through 66's, at least at that
place, another place I go to allows them. I have a 73" he continued, "do you
know anyone that wants 73 hubcaps?" I told him that he should go to our web site
and list them on the for sale part of the site. I asked him to tell his friends
that if they would remove everything they could before destroying these cars the
parts would find a home. I will not be going back to that shop.
I was proud to
have represented Imperial at the car show, even if it was the only one, many
many people enjoyed it. I hope you all
enjoyed some of my new adventures with Penny. I'm just so glad to be able to
take the car out finally and have fun with it.
Marty Trendler
Red Bluff, California
Penny
1959 Imperial LeBaron 4 Door
Sedan
Fiesta Copper
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