My Favorite Ride: Man recalls a Studebaker, 2 MGs, a VW, 2 Fords and a Chevrolet
I have never owned a noteworthy car, although there was that sky-blue 1967 Volkswagen Karmann Ghia I puttered around in for a few months during college.
It was winter, the car had no heater, and the rusted-away floorboard on the driver's side was concealed by a piece of blue shag carpet. When something went wrong with the motor, well, the shine wore off. The VW got replaced with a five-speed 1970 Toyota Celica that didn't last long.
I had a pretty elegant 1970 Ford LTD, white with aqua-colored cloth upholstery and hidden headlights. It was totaled in a wreck when another driver ran a red light.
Jim Stark in My Favorite Ride: Man's recent cross-county motorcycle venture likely his last
My dad was a used car salesman, so, there was never a shortage of vehicles to choose from when I needed a "new" car. A 1972 Chevy Luv pickup! A 1970 Chevrolet Impala! A 1968 Pontiac Catalina station wagon! An old Oldsmobile 88! The price was always within range with the family discount.
Given my motley car past, I am happy this week to report on a few great cars, cars worth writing about, cars once owned by local pilot and writer Jim Stark. The Bloomington man was featured in My Favorite Ride in 2018. He was 80 then, and had just returned from a cross-country, 6,000-mile solo vacation to Utah.
On his Honda Goldwing motorcycle, Rosie.
At 16, Stark's first car was a 1937 Studebaker four-door sedan. He and two buddies bought $100 jalopies intended for racing one another in an empty field.
"Within minutes of purchasing the Studebaker, I ruthlessly removed the fenders, headlights and knocked out all the glass windows," Stark recalled in a blog post. When the family he bought the car from came back for something left in the glove compartment, they were shocked to see the stripped-down vehicle
"The kids had named the car 'Heathcliff.' What a heartbreaker it was," he wrote, "to see the kids burst into tears when they saw what I had done to their precious Heathcliff."
Next was a 1942 Ford coupe in not-great condition he bought for a few hundred dollars saved while working at a gas station. His father's skepticism proved to be right; the transmission failed within a week. But Stark bought a junkyard transmission and installed it in his friend Jerry's backyard.
After awhile, he replaced the motor with a 1950 Mercury V-8 he bought for $50. "Dad didn’t know about any of that until the evening I blasted by his new Buick Special leaving him in my dust as he returned from work," Stark said.
His next car was a rebuilt 1953 MG TD his dad helped him buy, and he paid him back a few dollars every week. He loved the car, but couldn't take it with him to college, so it stayed home, parked in the driveway.
His sister broke the news about what happened next. "Dad got tired of the extra car in front of the garage and sold the MG to buy my mother a Hammond organ," he said. "I was heartbroken."
Guilt may have played a role in his father's offer to help pay for Stark's next car, a 1957 MGA. He had the car for two years during college, and drove it in a homecoming parade. The convertible top was almost always down, no matter the temperature.
It's difficult to imagine going from a 1957 MGA to a 1960 VW Beetle, but Stark made that transition, what he called "a giant step back." It's the car he had when he got married and started his Navy flight training.
When he transferred from Florida to Texas, he and his wife drove both of their cars to their new location. Her 1963 Chevrolet Monza convertible had more power and speed that the VW, so she led the way and he followed literally in her wake.
"My VW’s top speed was no match for her Chevy, but I discovered by getting close behind her car and drafting, my Bug could be pulled along," he recalled. A Texas Ranger pulled them over, and issued just one speeding ticket — to Stark.
"We had those same two cars later when moving from Florida to my new squadron in Maine," he said. "I had a $1,200 government check in my pocket that covered per diem expenses." Halfway to Maine, the Volkswagen threw a rod. The repairs took two days and all of the check.
From Maine, the Starks were deployed to Spain in 1965. Before they left, they traded both of their cars for a 1966 Chevy Malibu station wagon they wouldn't see until they returned in six months.
Previous: My Favorite Ride: A timely 2,200-mile father-son road trip in an old Ford truck
When they arrived in Rota, Spain, Stark bought a powder-blue 1957 Ford convertible, with three whitewall tires, that a departing officer was selling. It didn't run very well, and a chief petty officer offered to tune up the car if Stark would turn it over to him for 24 hours.
"The Spain base had a junkyard of hundreds of abandoned cars," Stark said. "The chief took my Ford, replaced the heads, carburetor, spark plugs and distributor and the convertible top mechanism and returned the car to me running like it had just left the Detroit assembly line."
He and his wife cruised around southern Spain during a week-long leave. "My favorite stunt was to pull into the middle of a small Spanish village and lower the convertible top to shouts of 'Ole' from all the villagers."
Got a story to tell about a car or truck? Contact My Favorite Ride reporter Laura Lane at llane@heraldt.com, 812-331-4362 or 812-318-5967.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: My Favorite Ride: Man recalls a mix or automobiles from his past
