IML: Adventures with Penny, Vol 1 "The Adventure Begins"
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IML: Adventures with Penny, Vol 1 "The Adventure Begins"



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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