My parents got married in October 1964. At the time my father was driving a 1956 Ford, an 8 year old car, it then went to my mother in 1969 and lasted with us until 1970, when I was 4. The first picture below is of the car on their wedding day.
This is a car my father was VERY fond of, he didn't buy it new, he must have gotten it around 1962. The car was originally black/white but my father decided to change the color to dark red/white (a non original color).
What must be my first car memory is of the Ford being towed away because a rod had punched a hole through the engine, I was probably 3, and it must have been a big deal back then for my parents who were not really well off. My father recently told me the full story: He accelerated hard in first off a red light and the gas pedal got stuck with the carpet, so when he pressed the clutch pedal to shift...the engine broke to pieces...
Fast forward to February of 2013 when I saw an add for the car in the second picture below. A one owner, identical 1956 Fairlane Victoria. Right away I sent an email to my 2 brothers, the subject line was "Stupid idea" and all it contained was the first picture I mentioned above and the link to the car for sale. They both replied within the hour with their approval. We purchased the car over the phone that day.
There began an 18 month journey to convert the piece of s**t we had bought into exactly how the car looked on the day they got married, we finished 2 days before their 50th wedding anniversary.
So a couple of weeks ago on their anniversary the whole family (4 siblings with the kids and my parents) got together to celebrate with a nice lunch. Before lunch we all went to church and upon returning we asked them all to stand on the stairs looking towards the street for a family picture. At that point I texted my son (who was waiting around the corner with the car) to start towards the house, so when the car slowly arrived, all were standing looking at the street.
The look on their faces, the words, the tears, were worth every penny, every minute spent tracking parts, trying to match the non original color from the few pictures we had, tracking down the correct mirrors for the car (turns out they were '58 mirrors my dad had installed...no wonder I could figure them out), and all the effort involved working to get this done.
The last 2 pictures are right after delivery, my parents posing with the car and taking it for a spin. It was very inspiring watching my mother slide over on the bench seat after 50 years of marriage
Last weekend my dad and I went for a long drive, he seemed really happy.
Thanks for listening
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