Larry Brower asked if someone could write an article for our Club members. Due to the events of 2020, we have not been able to have car shows. We all enjoy showing our cars and talking about them but we also enjoy the social exchange with our members and the people viewing the cars.
This social exchange is what I have missed most because of covid. Being unable to chat face-to-face, I thought I would share some of my experiences with cars with you.
I am part of the Baby Boomers generation as most of the club is, my biggest influence for cars came from my father. He was a mechanic and a good one, I watched as he would fix the cars all his friends and neighbors would bring to him. I never saw him get stumped, whatever the problem was he fixed it. I was always in the garage with him getting greasy and learning.
In high school in the 60s I fell in love with the 60s style cars ( and of course my wife ). In my last year of high school (1965) I had a1959 Ford Galaxie convertible my girlfriend, now my wife, had many great memories of the car, some I can share and some we wont. In 1966 I went into the US Air Force and retired from there in 1993. For 26 years my desire for a classic car was on hold because of money and constant moving.
In 1994 I bought a 1964 ½ mustang coup that needed a total restore. In my 2 car garage I did a ground-up restoration, It took 3 years and I had parts stashed all over the house. My wife Jan thought I would never get it back together. The neighbors who were not car nuts thought I was crazy. After 2 ½ years, I brought it home from the paint shop on a trailer and before it was off the trailer the neighbors were coming over to admire it. Six months later it was complete and we started attending car shows! Jan and I were now SOCIALIZING with CAR NUTS. At first, it was important to try to win a trophy which soon became a pain. I called it competition cleaning because the judges often deduct points for minor dirt in the engine bay so the trailer queens always won. After we dropped our expectation of winning, we realized we had more enjoyment from socializing with other car people and the spectators!
About 5 years after finishing the mustang I got the itch again and restored and modified a 1963 Ford Fairlane. It took 3 more years and had a bigger engine, newer transmission, custom interior, and custom paint. A very pretty show car!
As life evolved so did our family, kids got married, grandkids came along, as the family life changed we didn't get either car out very often. We sold the Fairlane which I believe is now somewhere in Tennessee but we kept the Mustang. Again I got the itch and wanted my old 1959 Galaxie convertible from my high school days but I wanted one that was restored. After much searching, I realized the 59 convertible all ready restored was out of my reach. I did not want to restore another car but I wanted a car I would be proud to take to shows.
I changed my search back to the 1960s Fords, have you noticed the trend of the 1960s (my high school years). I finally found our 1963 Galaxie 500 XL online in Spokane Washington. After many emails and phone calls, I flew to Spokane and bought it and had it shipped back to Arizona. I didn't have to restore it but I did rebuild some things to make sure it was reliable. Once we felt comfortable with the Galaxie we sold the Mustang. That was a little hard after 3 years to restore it and had it for 18 years.
We now love and enjoy showing off our convertible.
I know this is not face to face, but I feel it is a way to socialize till we get to have cars shows together at.
Everyone stay healthy and safe and we will see you in the fall. Below is a painting of our three cars in Seligman AZ.
Mike and Jan McCreery
This social exchange is what I have missed most because of covid. Being unable to chat face-to-face, I thought I would share some of my experiences with cars with you.
I am part of the Baby Boomers generation as most of the club is, my biggest influence for cars came from my father. He was a mechanic and a good one, I watched as he would fix the cars all his friends and neighbors would bring to him. I never saw him get stumped, whatever the problem was he fixed it. I was always in the garage with him getting greasy and learning.
In high school in the 60s I fell in love with the 60s style cars ( and of course my wife ). In my last year of high school (1965) I had a1959 Ford Galaxie convertible my girlfriend, now my wife, had many great memories of the car, some I can share and some we wont. In 1966 I went into the US Air Force and retired from there in 1993. For 26 years my desire for a classic car was on hold because of money and constant moving.
In 1994 I bought a 1964 ½ mustang coup that needed a total restore. In my 2 car garage I did a ground-up restoration, It took 3 years and I had parts stashed all over the house. My wife Jan thought I would never get it back together. The neighbors who were not car nuts thought I was crazy. After 2 ½ years, I brought it home from the paint shop on a trailer and before it was off the trailer the neighbors were coming over to admire it. Six months later it was complete and we started attending car shows! Jan and I were now SOCIALIZING with CAR NUTS. At first, it was important to try to win a trophy which soon became a pain. I called it competition cleaning because the judges often deduct points for minor dirt in the engine bay so the trailer queens always won. After we dropped our expectation of winning, we realized we had more enjoyment from socializing with other car people and the spectators!
About 5 years after finishing the mustang I got the itch again and restored and modified a 1963 Ford Fairlane. It took 3 more years and had a bigger engine, newer transmission, custom interior, and custom paint. A very pretty show car!
As life evolved so did our family, kids got married, grandkids came along, as the family life changed we didn't get either car out very often. We sold the Fairlane which I believe is now somewhere in Tennessee but we kept the Mustang. Again I got the itch and wanted my old 1959 Galaxie convertible from my high school days but I wanted one that was restored. After much searching, I realized the 59 convertible all ready restored was out of my reach. I did not want to restore another car but I wanted a car I would be proud to take to shows.
I changed my search back to the 1960s Fords, have you noticed the trend of the 1960s (my high school years). I finally found our 1963 Galaxie 500 XL online in Spokane Washington. After many emails and phone calls, I flew to Spokane and bought it and had it shipped back to Arizona. I didn't have to restore it but I did rebuild some things to make sure it was reliable. Once we felt comfortable with the Galaxie we sold the Mustang. That was a little hard after 3 years to restore it and had it for 18 years.
We now love and enjoy showing off our convertible.
I know this is not face to face, but I feel it is a way to socialize till we get to have cars shows together at.
Everyone stay healthy and safe and we will see you in the fall. Below is a painting of our three cars in Seligman AZ.
Mike and Jan McCreery