Last summer I wrote about how Matt and I talked about selling the Chevette and getting some sort of hotrod/cruiser:
Boys and Their Toys
Well, I’m happy to write that last week we welcomed a new hotrod into the family! A 1971 Ford Torino station wagon. Yes, you read that right…a FORD (gasp). If you know Matt (and care at all about car talk) you know that he has always, always, ALWAYS been a Pontiac man. They are his true passion, his true automotive love…which started way back when he was a boy and got his first Trans Am Matchbox car. He thought that car was the coolest thing ever…right away it was special to him, and he has one just like it perched on his desk at home. The love affair with all things Pontiac stuck with him all through his life and culminated with the purchase of the Trans Am. He loved that car more than seems reasonable to say. I think he always felt like he’d achieved his boyhood fantasy when got that car and each time he drove it, the little boy inside him jumped for joy. He will always love a Trans Am – and though I wish we could have one again…they just aren’t practical for us now.
Although Matt has always appreciated cool cars in general, he’s never been much of a Ford man. In fact, the night we met, we sauntered in wearing his favorite shirt which read ‘I’d rather push a Chevy than drive a Ford’. (He looked so stinking cute, I’ll never forget it…but I digress.) There have been endless rounds of heckling around our family over the years…my Dad the Mopar man, Chad the Ford man, and Matt the Pontiac man. We’ve been (not so) discreetly trying to influence little Matthew to love Pontiacs as well…as he was learning to talk we’d try to get him to say Pontiac or Trans Am before Ford. I think our efforts are futile…that little boy loves ALL things automotive.
It was a big dilemma for Matt, trying to decide to buy the Torino. Blake brought us to see the car, owned by a friend of his, knowing we were thinking of a cruiser. We’d seen how pristine it was in photos and knew that having a big wagon like that would be perfect for us to throw the chair in and go for a drive…but it was…a…FORD. Matt secretly hoped he wouldn’t love it…hoped that it would have some serious flaw about it…knowing how much crap he’d catch if he bought a Ford. BUT…we took one look, took one drive, and we knew…it would be a perfect car for us. Everything about it was perfect. We could trust the seller. It was within the price range we were looking for. It was in wonderful shape. It had been serviced and cleaned up. It.Was.Perfect. And so, we got the car.
Since bringing it home, we’ve done all the things that Matt, in his previous life, would have done. We washed it. We cleaned it. We shopped for new floor mats, air fresheners, cleaners, wax etc etc. He started planning things the guys could tweak on the car during their garage nights. We took it out to drive around the lake. We took it to church. We took George and Sandi out for ice cream. We took Hope, Chad, Meghan, & Matthew for a ride.
Already we love the car…and all that it symbolizes. I love the sound of the car and how it feels to drive, but most of all I love looking over at Matt…relaxed, content, a slight grin on his face, his sunglasses shading his eyes, though I can read them without seeing them. I know he longs to drive it himself, but I also know he pushes those feelings aside. He has a cruiser! We can load up and take it wherever we please! We can seat 4 other people in it! Oh, there’s SO much we’ll be able to do with it….and I know only goooood things to come. 
This Saturday will be our first car show! Jami’s kids’ elementary school is having their annual car show and we happily registered. It will be the first time in a LONG time that we’ve had a car in a show and I know it will be so special for us both. The first of many, I’m sure.
Boys and Their Toys
Well, I’m happy to write that last week we welcomed a new hotrod into the family! A 1971 Ford Torino station wagon. Yes, you read that right…a FORD (gasp). If you know Matt (and care at all about car talk) you know that he has always, always, ALWAYS been a Pontiac man. They are his true passion, his true automotive love…which started way back when he was a boy and got his first Trans Am Matchbox car. He thought that car was the coolest thing ever…right away it was special to him, and he has one just like it perched on his desk at home. The love affair with all things Pontiac stuck with him all through his life and culminated with the purchase of the Trans Am. He loved that car more than seems reasonable to say. I think he always felt like he’d achieved his boyhood fantasy when got that car and each time he drove it, the little boy inside him jumped for joy. He will always love a Trans Am – and though I wish we could have one again…they just aren’t practical for us now.
Although Matt has always appreciated cool cars in general, he’s never been much of a Ford man. In fact, the night we met, we sauntered in wearing his favorite shirt which read ‘I’d rather push a Chevy than drive a Ford’. (He looked so stinking cute, I’ll never forget it…but I digress.) There have been endless rounds of heckling around our family over the years…my Dad the Mopar man, Chad the Ford man, and Matt the Pontiac man. We’ve been (not so) discreetly trying to influence little Matthew to love Pontiacs as well…as he was learning to talk we’d try to get him to say Pontiac or Trans Am before Ford. I think our efforts are futile…that little boy loves ALL things automotive.
It was a big dilemma for Matt, trying to decide to buy the Torino. Blake brought us to see the car, owned by a friend of his, knowing we were thinking of a cruiser. We’d seen how pristine it was in photos and knew that having a big wagon like that would be perfect for us to throw the chair in and go for a drive…but it was…a…FORD. Matt secretly hoped he wouldn’t love it…hoped that it would have some serious flaw about it…knowing how much crap he’d catch if he bought a Ford. BUT…we took one look, took one drive, and we knew…it would be a perfect car for us. Everything about it was perfect. We could trust the seller. It was within the price range we were looking for. It was in wonderful shape. It had been serviced and cleaned up. It.Was.Perfect. And so, we got the car.
Since bringing it home, we’ve done all the things that Matt, in his previous life, would have done. We washed it. We cleaned it. We shopped for new floor mats, air fresheners, cleaners, wax etc etc. He started planning things the guys could tweak on the car during their garage nights. We took it out to drive around the lake. We took it to church. We took George and Sandi out for ice cream. We took Hope, Chad, Meghan, & Matthew for a ride.
Already we love the car…and all that it symbolizes. I love the sound of the car and how it feels to drive, but most of all I love looking over at Matt…relaxed, content, a slight grin on his face, his sunglasses shading his eyes, though I can read them without seeing them. I know he longs to drive it himself, but I also know he pushes those feelings aside. He has a cruiser! We can load up and take it wherever we please! We can seat 4 other people in it! Oh, there’s SO much we’ll be able to do with it….and I know only goooood things to come. 
This Saturday will be our first car show! Jami’s kids’ elementary school is having their annual car show and we happily registered. It will be the first time in a LONG time that we’ve had a car in a show and I know it will be so special for us both. The first of many, I’m sure.
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