Her name was Lola. She was a show girl….
Actually that was what Scott called the cherry red 1967 Cougar that met it’s unfortunate end while parked on the street on spring afternoon. My devastated man cherry picked her engine out and put it into his first car ever – a 1962 Mercury Meteor called Ethel.
But kids start projects they don’t have the means to finish every day. The old girl sat in his Mom’s garage for like…eight years or something. Scott and I did a lot of making out to the Stray Cats in this car. It’s hard to part with something that holds that many memories and teenage bodily fluids. (Gross.)
And then this year, Grandma Ann Marie moved. And she didn’t have space for old Ethel any longer. Everyone prepared emotionally for the goodbye. Afterall, this car, she’s the only thing in Scott’s life save for his immediately family (and Tom) that pre-date me. They have a real connection these two.
How could I ask him say goodbye to a piece of history?
Ethel’s an American Classic that’s as much as part of the story of Scott and Me as Hootenanny and Hair Bleach. When I met Scott, this car was part of who he was; the blonde greaser with the Classic Ride and the pack of unfiltered luckies rolled into his t-shirt sleeves. That, the smell of Murrary’s Original Pomade, and the leather jacket with the Lady Luck patch on the sleeve – those things were all part of what swept me off my feet. How could I kick the final threads of that part of our collective life to the curb?
So here we are. Finally doing right by the old girl. Restoring her.
Maybe with a few eco-friendly improvements.
Wish us luck.
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