How It All Began

It's 1958, and my Dad was supporting his wife and 4 kids in a modest ranch style home in Northern California.  He worked as a machinist and loved to tinker with vintage Chrysler product cars in his spare time.  There was a local garage named "Henry's Garage - House of a Million Parts" close by our home.  Henry, and his son Earl ran the garage.  Henry's property started out as a dairy farm in the early part of the century, then changed to the garage and eventually went into the auto wrecking business.  One day, my Dad stopped by Henry's to pick up some car parts, when he saw this nice little 1933 Desoto 4 door sedan, 6 wheel model, parked by the adobe style garage building.  The rear axle of the car was missing, so it was up on jack stands in the rear.  The car was unusual, very art deco and had beautiful curved lines to the body and fenders.  The radiator cap was a site to behold, a woman with wings.  The instrument cluster on the dash was very deco, with hounds and graceful lines.  Each rear window had a pull down shade.  There were spare tire covers on each front fender.  And the wood spoke wheels were deluxe.  He fell in love with the car and proceeded to talk business with Henry.  A deal was made and he paid $225 for it, which apparently was the going rate at that time.   He seems to recall that the original owners were an Italian family who lived just south of San Francisco.  My older sister Kathy took the above photo of my Dad and his car in 1958.  What a great picture.  Those really were great days to be living in California.

Here's a photo of Henry's Garage before it was torn down to make way for office buildings.

And here's a photo of "Granpa" taken in the late 1950's. 

Several years after this wonderful acquisition, I was born...in March, 1959.  Our family had several other Chrysler products, such as the 1949 Chrysler New Yorker, 1940 Canadian Dodge and 1950 Desoto. 

Throughout my childhood and into my teen years, my Dad owned quite the variety of Chryslers, Dodges, Desotos and Plymouths.  They were like family members and each had it's own name, such as Martin, Clunky, Farmcar, The Coupe, Billy, Beulah, Isabelle (had about 4 of those), and of course, Grandpa.  Back then, there was little traffic.  I don't recall having seatbelts and there was no babyseat to strap me into.  Just a plain wicker basket that was placed on the backseat floor.  My Dad would drive around town with me in the backseat, often with one of my siblings.  Life was much simpler back then and sure was alot less crowded.  When I was old enough to walk, I would go to different junkyards with my Dad, to help scope out parts for his cars.   I learned how to remove the steering wheel horn ring emblems and had a little collection of them.  They weren't treated like gold like they are now...usually Henry or Earl would let me have them for free.  We had lots of old hubcaps hanging on the garage walls.  I knew which year, make and model each one went to.  My Dad would play "farm music" as he called vintage country music on a car radio that was mounted, dashboard and all above his workbench.  Hank Williams Sr. would bellow, "Say hey good lookin, whatcha got cookin?" while Dad tinkered under the hood.  These were magical days for this little girl.  I got to hang out with my Dad, who was so funny and cool to me. 

Here I am with my Grandmother Kathryn, about 1959.  

Here's a photo of my sister Anne Marie, sitting in the backseat.  She is also really excited that the car has made it's way back home with the family again.