As if...

...I didn't have enough fun being a mindless bureaucratic automaton, I am now taking it out on my neighbors! I got appointed to our little town's Board of Zoning Adjustment, and last night was my first meeting. I'm a supernumerary member, but since there were only three of the regular members there, I got to vote.

Luckily, nothing too complicated, and the meeting was over in about thirty minutes or so, after which I got to jabber with one of the guys on the board who has a whole collection of oddball old cars he keeps parked behind his business. I have driven around there several times, just to peak at them, so it was nice to finally meet the guy. Odd little collection--mostly stuff from the mid-'60s--he bought a bunch of them to celebrate the opening of his business 40 years ago, and the rest just have some sentimental value for him. Couple of '54 Plymouth sedans (they look a bit like this one), an International Harvester Metro Mite (which looks NOTHING like this one), a '65 Impala convertible, a '64 or '65 Galaxie 500, a '54 Ford Victoria (cool, daddy-o!--in great shape, looks like this one except in bright yellow and black top), a '65 Catalina four door hardtop (that I have always like, but he said he just sold it. Oh well, it didn't have air, anyway), and a really cool 1955 Studebaker Speedster, the progenitor of the snappy Hawk models. This is probably the coolest of the bunch--here's an ad from way back when--"lightning on wheels! Styled for action! Powered for thrills!" (with nary a disclaimer from the lawyers), and here's a picture of one similar to his, and here's something from a guy with WAY too much time on his hands. (Not that there's anything wrong with that.)

Anyway, he's an interesting fellow.
posted by Terry at 9:15:00 AM