CARZ!

Cars have always been important to me. I fell in love with a 1947 Plymouth Sedan...my parent's first car. This is the first car I have a memory of. It was wonderful! It had a custom pullman-like sleeping area ( the shelf under the back window)...just the right size to curl up and rest while looking at the sky drift by. It had lots of room on the floor in front of the back bench seat...a good place to get away from crowding brothers. I'm not really sure why I was so attached to this dream of a vehicle...I just know that I cried when we left it at Cottle Garage to drive away in our family's next vehicle... a 1953 Plymouth.














The 1953 Plymouth was a poor substitution for my beloved 1947. Just look at it...it has no class, no style, no back window ledge. I remember taking our new car for a ride toward Idaho Falls. As we approached an overpass near Rigby a big truck drove by and flipped a rock into our brand new windshield. A big old rock chip and the 1953 Plymouth deserved it...I want my old friend back. We owned this car for only a brief period of time.

It seems like Dad really liked the Plymouth line of vehicles because the next car was a 1955 Plymouth Belvedere. To be honest I don't remember too much about this car even though we had it for quite some time. I know it is the car that we drove to Salt Lake in to visit Grandma and Grandpa Jenkins. We also had it when we moved to Salt Lake in 1958. It was a good car...but definitely not an old friend like my 1947.

Dad bought a car for us to learn to drive and to use to get to school and work. As impatient teenagers it didn't matter that this car was a massive hulk of a 1955 Dodge. This car was the one that I drove in to take my driver's license road test. It was a miracle that I passed. The Dodge had a manual transmission with the usual H-shifter on the column. I had very little practice but was able to pass the road test and get my license. I think I was fifteen and a half when I got my license. It was the law (back then) that a person was allowed to get their license at that age if they had taken driver's training. This is the vehicle that had a thrown rod right through the engine block...ask Jerry about the details.

My favorite car to drive was the family car that eventually got handed down to Jerry and ultimately to me was the 1962 Ford Fairlaine. This sleek little beauty was metallic rust in color. Featured a slant-six 225hp engine with the shifter on the column. Leatherette (vinyl) seats, bench seats, front and back. I loved this little car almost as much as the 1947 Plymouth.

I got to drive this car during my late high school years and beyond. I used to drive this beauty up and down Emigration Canyon in my own Grand Prix de Monte Carlo...I always won. It was also a joy driving up to the Uintas to go fishing around Mirror Lake. It was especially fun driving down the mountain as fast as possible.