I recently purchased a 1964 LeBaron that was about an
hour away in the Sonoma Valley, in California's wine
country. The car had been outside for awhile but was
still in pretty good shape, all things considered.
I drove up and bought it on the spot. The guy was
really nice but not very mechanically inclined, and I
got it to run well just by fiddling around with a
screwdriver. That clinched it for him and he was
happy that the car was going to a good home.
I returned several days later and availed myself of my
girlfriend's AAA gold tow package that gives a free
tow up to 100 miles. The best kind of tow service to
have?
Someone Else's!
We called the AAA folks and they dispatched a wrecker.
The guy showed up and was really nice to talk to. He
immediately started looking the car over and was
really interested in it. Most tow guys are pretty
jaded and just want to hook and run, but he took the
time to really look the car over and asked intelligent
questions.
We got the car up on the flatbed, and somone in our
group wanted coffee, so I offered to buy him lunch or
a drink or whatever if we could stop on the way out of
this tinly little town (Glen Ellen). He agreed, and I
figured the drink money was well spent - what with him
carrying the car and all.
So anyway, the stop took longer than expected, and he
told us more about himself. This was his next to last
day, and his boss was such a jerk that he had resigned
to work somewhere else that was a 25 minute longer
commute just to get out from under the bad boss. He
was so fed up with the boss that he had gotten an old
trophy and redone it for the boss. He was a sculptor
and had fashioned a representation of male genitalia
and put it on top of the old trophy, and had driven
wood screws through the center-part of the two winged
angels on either side of the trophy, making them
"stand at attention" and had painted it some garish
color. He was really looking forward to walking in on
his last day and presenting his boss with this trophy
in front of everyone and really letting it all hang
out now that he didn't have to take the guy's baloney
any more. He was articulate and really funny in how
he described all of this, and seemed particularly
pleased that he was hauling such a nice car, that it
would take all day (depriving the boss of some tow
revenue), and that he'd be occupied doing this pretty
much until quitting time. I came out of the
conversation thinking that this guy was really a nice
person and was happy that he was the one doing the tow
that day.
So he followed us back to my place, and dropped the
car in front of my house, where it is sitting as I
write this. I already have a nice 1964, and this one
isn't a keeper. I told him to hang on, and opened up
the side gate where that one is. He went over and we
all went into the side yard and looked over the
imperials that I have there. He was really impressed
and again asked intelligent questions and seemed to
really be getting a kick out of talking about
Imperials and learning about them and all.
About 5 minutes in, he glanced over at the wood fence
that is on one side of the carport where I have a
bunch of emblems pressed into the wood. He pointed to
the double-arrow Forward Look emblem that came off a
Dodge or something and started to get really excited.
He didn't know what it was called but sort-of
stuttered and said that he KNEW that logo. Being that
he didn't seem much the Mopar person based on
questions asked, I was a little surprised.
Then he rolled up his shirt-sleeve and proudly
displayed the same Forward Look flightsweep emblem
tattoed on his bicep. I'm not easliy impressed, but
that was a real surprise - him being from out in the
sitcks and not even really knowing what it meant and
all.
His stock went up about 200% right then and there as
far as I was concerned. He wanted to know all about
the logo and what was behind it. I probably would
have done my homework before getting a tattoo like
that myself, but to each his own...
I gave him a brief history on it, told him about
Virgil and his Fins. I gave him the emblem and a nice
Forward Look ad out of my collection and he just about
fainted on the spot out of happiness.
I gave him my card and asked him to keep an eye open
for Imperials in the Wine Country, and I somehow think
that I'll be hearing from my new friend again.
Interesting who you meet when you are into Imperials.
=====
Kenyon Wills
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