My QOTD for today is: What car owned by a relative did you lust after?
For me, the answer is my aunt’s 1997 Dodge Intrepid ES, similar to the one above. It always induced profound desire within me.
So, which relative’s car did that for you?
QOTD: Which Relative’s Car Did You Covet?
– Posted on August 6, 2013
There’s been cars Ive coveted though usually they belong to family friends.
From my own family…I always had a thing for Cadillacs it seems since I would claim my granddad’s 1981? Eldorado to be mine, even though I was maybe 5-8 yrs old. I still have a key somewhere. He sold it to a family member and got wrecked later 🙁 I still recall those leather seats and red wine color of the exterior (if memory serves). Apparently he also had an early 70s Camaro and a huge 1970s Cadillac dubbed the Challenger (as in the space shuttle) by my mom and dad and others for its size. This was back in the 80s. He’s always been a Cadillac man. Has a 1998 STS but it’s suffered damage.
Would have any of those.
My dad has had many cars but the ones I’ve truly coveted are probably his 1990 Impulse (CC hopefully soon) which he still has all original and his 1998 Boxster, silver with full red interior. There’s something about that combo being so Porsche and looking so good that I cringe everytime he mentions maybe selling it for something newer.
It also has white face gauges that go up to 150, something unusual as the S didn’t appear until MY2000 and would go up to 175.
When I was a toddler, my Dad was still driving his old ’70 Camaro with a straight six and hubcaps instead of alloys. It was sporty and interesting in a way that a run of the mill modified ’69 “car show” Camaro never could be. The ’70-’72s were always my favorites by far. I’d also love to have my uncles fabled ’67 Coronet, even though I never saw it in the flesh. Based on pictures alone, I think that it was one of the coolest-looking cars of the 60’s.
Dad’s big rig driver younger brother, my uncle Chuck, drove some interesting cars, unlike my dad. I wanted many of them, from the ’55 Bel Air, TR-3, to the Capri. At the time, I had no interest in the Valiant or Wildcat. Mom’s stepdad, an accountant, had a white ’62 Futura with red bucket seats and floor shift. Grandma traded it for a boring Buick after he passed.
In the fall of ’68, my brother bought his wife a lightly used Mercury Cougar XR7. It was beautiful in dark green with black upholstery and a black vinyl top. Wifey, who didn’t like American cars, complained that the seats were uncomfortable to her regal little butt. So off it went in exchange for a Peugeot 404. I wish I’d had the scratch to buy it.
+1 early Cougars must be Mercury’s finest hour.
Nothing anyone else has is attractive to me, but I do enjoy watching them enjoy things.
A 2nd or 3rd cousin of mine somehow ended up in possession of my grandfather’s 1931 Chrysler CD8 rumble-seat roadster. I coveted that.
In the following order:
My parents 51 Buick Super, seafoam green and always with blackwall tires, driven brand new from 51 through 61.
My uncle’s Mark III (year?), black over red w/ car phone. Totalled in a Garden State Parkway toll plaza.
Another uncle’s 69 Newport Custom two door, rolled by my cousin after accumulating over 150k miles, a wonderful car.
My Uncle’s Porsche 944. Obviously I didn’t know much about Porsches at the time.
My uncle Dean (youngest brother of my mom, (and she had 5 sisters and 5 brothers), was only 10 years older than me. He was always considered the coolest uncle by all the cousins. At the age of 15 he went to work for a local meat market and one day the owner said, “Dean I need this order of meat delivered right away, can you do it?” Dean, of course said “SURE.” So he made the delivery and later the boss found out that Dean was not old enough to drive. He didn’t get fired and he made enough money to start buying old Model T Fords, couple of Chevys and I never knew quite what else and had them stashed all over town. This was in 1949. Apparently he would sell them to his buddies as he never kept any of them for long. There was one yellow Model A roadster that was parked in front of my grandparent’s house for months and my cousin Marge and I used to play in it all the time. It had no top and it was a small town with no restrictions on parking cars. My grandfather (Dean’s dad) had a light green 1949 Mercury 4 door with a set of Hollywood mufflers installed by Dean. I recall there was a legal problem with that and the mufflers had to come off. What a great sound those mufflers produced! Dean totaled the 49 Mercury within 2 years of its purchase so it was replaced wth a dark green 51 Mercury 4 door with an automatic transmission. The 49 had been a stick. I remember riding in the smooth 51 Mercury many times and being very impressed. Next Uncle Dean joined the Air Force and showed up on leaves driving a 1941 Ford coupe with mild customizing including electric door buttons and trunk release (eliminating unsightly handles) I think it also had big fender skirts on the rear. Upon getting out of the Air Force, he bought a pretty 1953 Oldsmobile 88 4 door sedan from a buddy. It was a change of pace for Dean but a very comfortable car and I loved the sound of the engine and transmission when riding in it. It was replaced with a 1958 Chevy Impala convertible (that’s more like it!). The Impala was turquoise blue with matching blue and white interior. To avoid driving the Impala in the harsh western Pennsylvania winters, he also bought a creampuff 1947 Pontiac fastback 2 door sedan in black. The Pontiac looked like new and he paid $150 for it. The next winter he sold the Pontiac and replaced it with a 49 Chevy pickup in dark green – just like the ones you see now in the Old Navy stores. After his marriage in 1959 Dean sold the Impala and bought a 56 Oldsmobile 4 door hardtop that I recall was a very pretty car. It wasn’t too long till his bride drove it with no oil in the engine and the next thing I knew he was driving a new Simca. Now skipping ahead 40 years, Dean had retired to a trailer home leaving his wife in the home they had raised their 3 children in. He was driving one of those fiberglass Chevy vans throughout the 2000 to 2010 period and passed the time by hauling the Amish wherever they needed to go. He would drive them to lumber conventions, weddings, across several states at times and was well paid for his efforts. Unfortunately, Uncle Dean passed away last year but his memory is alive with the interesting assortment of autos he owned. I would have been glad to have any one of them.
(except maybe the Simca)
Easy answer, my parents’ 1965 Lincoln Continental, “America’s Most Distinguished Motorcar,” as I have often quoted. All black, black leather interior, that car bespoke elegance and sophistication and luxury and presence like no other. The “last great American luxury car,” as Paul wrote in his fine article last year. Of all my various relatives’ cars, that one was my touchstone.
Mom and Dad’s 65 Comet, or grandma’s 69 Falcon coupe, or Mom and Dad’s 69 Chevelle coupe. They kept cars long enough that I drove everything they owned from 1976 onwards and the ’76 Chevelle became mine in 1992, the 84 Delta 88 was a pile but good looking, the 92 LeSabre was not comfortable to me, and the 04 Rendezvous, is well like driving a bus.
Otherwise my relatives drove pretty forgettable cars, save for cousin Bobby’s Delorean.
There are three cars I coveted, two of which were owned by my aunt and uncle.
The first was a ’76 Buick LeSabre Custom hardtop sedan, dark blue with white vinyl top and white leather. They bought it new not too long after my fifth birthday. I fell in love the first time I saw it, as it was much nicer than the plain jane ’68 Bel Air wagon my folks had (although I have come to appreciate that car for what it was). They kept it for around ten years, until just before I got my drivers’ license. I would have gladly bought the car from them, but by the time it died it was pretty well used up.
To replace the Buick for the short term my uncle’s mechanic hooked him up with an absolutely pristine ’72 Coupe deVille being sold by one of his elderly customers who was forced to turn in his license. The Cad was seafoam green inside and out, with a white vinyl top and an engine bay you could perform brain surgery in. To my 16 year old mind, this was the only car that could top the Buick, and I begged my uncle to sell it to me when he and my aunt decided to buy a new ’87 Plymouth Caravelle (gag). Dad and Uncle Tommy shot that down citing single digit mileage and lack of driving experience, as I had only had my learner’s permit a few months when the car had to go. Copies of both those cars are on my dream garage inventory.
The third car is my grandfather’s ex-Hertz ’83 AMC Concord DL, in copper inside and out with a copper vinyl roof. It replaced a tired ’71 Skylark and was replaced by an ’87 Caprice sedan. I remember it as a neat package with decent economy and city performance that looked pretty good and offered decent comfort. Gramps traded it in before I got my license, so I didn’t have a chance to get it.
My Uncle had a ’55, 2-tone, red & white Pontiac hardtop. Gorgeous car and always looked forward when he drove us around town to look at Christmas lights. A close runner up would be a cousin’s ’65 Plymouth Sport Fury, with a 318 and a Torqueflite tranny, also an appealing machine with great road manners and longevity. Finally, my brother had a ’63 Porsche Super 90 Coupe which had many alluring attributes which now I reflect on it, I’d say it was the car’s utilitarian simplicity that stood out. It was painful to witness its demise, which occurred from too much exposure to road salt.
I can’t think of any of my relatives’ cars that I really lusted after, which is odd because there were a few relatively cool cars among them. My father had a 1936 Chrysler Airstream coupe – in the late 30’s and early 40’s, it was gone by the time I was 3 and I had to learn later from seeing one a fellow car guy had in the 70’s, plus my own experience with my 35 Dodge. He also had a 34 LaSalle 4-window 4-door sedan. I was 10 when he traded it for the new Packard in 1950, and to me the LaSalle had been that old car that broke down frequently and once made us sick from exhaust leaks into it. But now that I know what a rarity that was…I’ve never seen another one.
I would have liked my Uncle Pete’s 37 maroon LaSalle coupe better if I hadn’t had to ride on the jump seat in back most of the way to California and back to south King County. Talk about the cheap seats… He replaced it with a 51 Chevy light gray sedan that had no options, not even a heater.
My grandfather in California had a blue 39 Chevy pickup – his only wheels. My aunt the entrepreneur had a new 50 Bel Air 2-door hardtop in pale yellow with a metallic gray top, and my uncle who lived with her had a new 49 Hudson sedan.
I kinda lusted after my friend’s dad’s Mark VII Jaguar (hey, I was just a dumb kid) and then his 57 220S sedan.
There was one cool old pickup that Pop had for half a year or so, a 34 or 35 Dodge half-ton. Long hood, fairly roomy cab, and the pickup box hung in back as an afterthought, similar to the one shown except that it was well worn and had blackwalls and disc wheels.
I really should mention the car he had when he was a young stud in southern California – a 1930 Chrysler convertible coupe.
Easy one! From childhood through young adulthood, my Great Auntie Irene in Perry, Missouri had a: 1) ’53 Mercury Monterey Sedan (light green with a two tone medium and dark green cloth/nylon interior; flatty and Merc-O-Matic (complete with FoMoCo 50th anniversary medallion on the dark green dash) 2) ’66 Mustang; red with black “pony” embossed seats, 289 210hp 2-bbl, automatic, factory air (the little four-pod under dash unit). She kept BOTH CARS meticulously cared for and maintained.
I’d made no secret about giving either/or/both a good home. She, however would steadfastly maintain that “I’ll keep ’em ’til I go to the grave.” I had, unfortunately, a burnbag, dope addled cousin (her son). She eventually gave both to him. I think the Merc was garaged, and then neglected about 1982 and the Mustang he trashed before Missouri Rednecking it (i.e. 50 series tires in back, rear leaf shackle extensions, side pipes . . . .plastic hood scoop . . . sad.
That…is sad. Why do so many relatives give pristine, cool old cars to the family black sheep, who summarily trash it? The poor cars.
My grandfather’s 1986 sky blue Mercury Grand Marquis LS. I dimly remember riding in an earlier Cadillac, but I was 3 in 1986 when he bought it and this was the first of his cars I clearly remember. He summered in Connecticut and wintered in Florida where we were then living year round. Two years later, we moved home to Connecticut and visited him there. I learned that he had bought a new 1988 Grand Marquis in white for my grandmother. About a year after that, she died. For the next three years, he held onto both cars. The blue Grand Marquis was the same length and wheelbase as the later white one (both Panthers, after all), but it looked bigger and longer thanks to its sharper corners and more Lincoln-esque appearance. I would insist that we take it out over the newer car on visits, to the eternal mystification of my grandfather (“why does he always want to ride in the old car?”).
From that ’86 I developed my enthusiasm for big boats. My grandfather moved to an senior apartment development in the 90s, and sold the older blue car to a cousin. If I had been 16 at the time, I am sure that I could have gotten it for free. I cut my losses, hoping for the white ’88. But my grandfather died when I was 13 in 1996, and the cousin bought the white one too.
Two that got away…with 65K(blue) and 40k(white) respectively…
Later, I coveted the ’93 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham in silver and burgundy owned by an elderly cousin, then in his late 60s and now in his 80s. He actually still has that car, as he is wont to keep his cars around at different locations, and thus has 4-5 Cadillacs of 80s-90s-00s vintage. The ’93 is still a beauty but I believe has close to 200K on the clock now.
As usual, I a late to the party. Things like work get in the way of more important things, like CC.
Can’t say I lusted after any relative’s cars since I come from a long line of dirt poor Irish scrabble farmers. For us, hi-falootin’ was a Pontiac and it didn’t matter of it had a Stovebolt and Powerglide like a Chevy, it was still hi-falootin! Most of the family soldiered on in used Chevy II’s that got more jacked up with each generation it was passed down to. The favourite family paint colour was red primer and white walls were caused by oxidation.
I was up to the Home Town last year and they haven’t changed a bit except the Chevy II’s have been replaced by Cavaliers.
I coveted three that I personally experienced: my grandparents’ 1973 Volvo 164E, their later 1984 XE Ford Fairmont Ghia, and my great-Uncle’s 1982 Jag XJS. The Volvo because it was beautiful in blue-green with orange leather, factory sunroof and a/c, manual o/d transmission. The Fairmont because it looked very imposing in silver with Ford’s lovely Snowflake alloys, and I loved the wall-to-wall velour. And the Jag because it was so exotic in yellow with 12 cylinders (I was 10 when it was bought in 1984, and was amazed that it had more cylinders than I’d had years on earth!). Of course I also coveted my grandparents’ ’59 Plymouth Belvedere (sold just before I was born) and my other Grandfather’s ’36 Dodge, which I did ultimately buy (and then sell when I realised restoration was beyond me).
My Uncle Hank’s baby-blue 1963 Mercedes 300SL roadster. This pic isn’t the exact car but the color is correct. Maybe it is, because he sold it in the late 1970’s before they started to take off in value.
Brought it by the house one evening to have my dad look at it. Forgot what was wrong but they did end up taking the tunnel-ram intake off. First one I’d ever seen, being from a GM family.
Mine was my cousin’s 1970 black Roadrunner hardtop. Black outside, black inside, 383, never out in winter weather, it was like showroom condition with only 24K miles! I loved that car, and he agreed to sell it to me when it was time. He got drafted in 1973, but when I got my license, and I had more than enough money to buy it. But he forgot, sold it to a classmate, and I saw it every day at school for the next year and a half.
My Uncle’s 1963 Ford Fairlane 500 Sport Coupe that he bought new that year. That’s one seriously cool uncle. Unlike the picture, his was gold on gold, buckets & console… just stunning.
The back end of the car recalls the ’57 T-bird, yet the fins are modest for ’63 (no worse than a ’63 Caddy).
The front successfully mimicked the Galaxie 500
My cousin Chris purchased a 1996 BMW 325i, Green with white (very light grey?) interior, manual of course. Remember the first time I rode in it, inline six screaming towards the redline. As I recall it had 189hp but compared to the Plymouth Voyager and Dodge Dakota (complete with a 99hp 4 cylinder!) that resided in my parents garage bays the beemer was a screamer.
Seriously though, loved that car. Drove it every so often and always enjoyed it.
My cousin, Joy, bought one of the first (possibly THE first) Acura Legend sold in the Atlanta area in late 1985. Her ’84 Fiero had just went up in flames (literally) and she wanted something larger, safer and more upscale. It was dark blue with navy cloth interior and I was in love it.
Eventually, I owned a ’90 and ’94 Legend of my own. But it all started with her ’86 model.
My mom had three Olds Cutlass Supremes- a black ’74 Supreme 2-door that she got a year before I was born in ’75, a ’77 Supreme Brougham 2-door she got in 1980 when my 21-year old cousin dumped it for an ’80 Riviera (ick!), it was Buckskin (gold) with plush pillowly matching interior and even an 8-track player and in late 1985 she ordered an ’86 Supreme 2-door in Medium Gray, Chrome-accented rallye wheels, RWL tires, 307 4-barrel V8 (made a whopping 140hp)…on the exterior, it looked like a 442 without the decals and gold wheel accents- it was SHARP! But the dealer and/or factory (blamed each other) missed a few options that she wanted for the interior- instead of bucket seats and floor mounted shifter, it had a one-piece bench with column shifter and it didn’t get the Gauge Package (instead of round speedo and tach, it had the oh-so-70s rectangular speedo, gas gauge and nothing else! It also had the standard 3-speed automatic (she didn’t know to order the 4-speed OD automatic) so performance was a pretty far cry from the 442 (which was lukewarm already, 0-60 in 9sec for the 442, her setup was more like 11.5 seconds). A base model Accord DX could outrun it, although it didn’t look as good!
And to add insult to (multiple) injuries, she actually chose the most horrible deep Burgundy color for the velour interior! It was the second most hideous interior color I’ve ever seen and I spend ages 10-18 riding in and/or driving it. The absolute worst interior color of all time was in my sister’s ’85 Nissan 300ZX- outside it was a Snow White, but inside was Blood RED velour seats and the dash/carpet/console/door panels were blood red plastic/vinyl…it felt like you were actually inside an autopsy or dead carcass! The only visual break from all the red were the insanely over-the-top digital displays- it had numberic readouts for all the regular displays plus a GRAPH for the tach that dramatically rushed left to right and climbed upward at the same time (sort of like the Price Is Right game where the little guy climbs the mountain and falls off the end)- it made no sense and provided no useful info at all- there was already a 2-digit numeric tach readout (so 5300rpm was shown as 53)….and it talked, but thankfully my pop found the fuse to kill that….
I never tried acid, but when I drove that thing at night, I felt like I was trippin’….but I also though I was a bad@ss jammin’ to Def Leppard with the t-tops out! =)
The point of all of that-
1) I detest anything remotely close to a dark red (burgundy, maroon, wine) on the inside or outside of a car….or anywhere else!
2) I love the ’86 and ’87 Olds Cutlass Supreme (and the ‘sporty’ Salon trim level and the 442 (based on the Salon in ’85-’86 and the Supreme in ’87). The 442 had a HO 307 4-barrel V8 good for 180hp (vs 140hp for the regular 307). I’m torn between the years because ’86 was the final year for the non-aero headlights but it had a very clean-looking grille with only vertical bars (the ’85 had a cross-hatch grille pattern that was fugly). The flush aero-headlights on the ’87 changed the overall look but was sharp in it’s own right. Then again, the simplicity of mom’s basic Supreme 2-door with the white letter tires and chrome rallye wheels was even hotter looking than the 442 with it’s two-tone paint scheme, gold wheel trim and gold decals…and even though my Mazda3 would leave the 442 in the dust, when that 4-barrel carb kicked in it sounded like a jet taking off (lots of noise, but the gas gauge dropped faster than the speedo increased).
3) And finally the unloved (by most) 300 ZX that ran frorm ’84 to ’89, but the ’87 cosmetic ‘refresh’ removed any semblance of personality (good or bad) from the ZX and actually managed to make the Stanza look hot in comparison. So the ’84-’86 models are the ones that attract me. I only like the 2-seater models (base, t-top or turbo, which included t-tops) because the stretched 2+2 looked more like a Dacschund (dog) than a Datsun (the ’84 ZX was branded Nissan by Datsun). The digital gauge package (with the ridiculous graphs, insanely complicated climate controls and even a gauge showing g-force (on a car that coudn’t keep up with a Toyota Yaris on a curvy road today)! It was 80s at it’s best…and just to give it that extra visual ‘pop’ the center console was trimmed in a woodgrain-inspired applique that also could only be from the 80s…and the woodgrain also would wear thin anywhere that you touched it commonly within a few years. Leather was optional, but was guaranteed to have a ‘crackle’ texture long before the loan was paid off. The standard seats were heavily bolstered sporty-looking seats, but they were covered in VELOUR, and in an assortment of colors including the aforementioned RED, smurf blue, green-gray, and pale orange which they called ‘camel’. The ’86 Turbo is the best of the best- ’86 models had some minor exterior tweaks that gave a cleaner overall appearance, single-year turbine wheel design was very sharp and a 4-spoke steering wheel finally gave them room for the dozens of buttons they crammed on previous 2-spoke versions! Red with Black cloth, Turbo, digital pkg, 5-speed….that’d be my dream….with Def Leppard cassette ready to rock! BTW, in ’84, the base non t-top model could be ordered in Maroon with (clashing) Red interior….I don’t think the color wheel had been invented yet….
Now that my uncle (father’s younger brother) has died, I am the only “car person” left in my family. My brother did have a couple of rodded Chevelles when he was young but after he got married it has been transportation appliances for him. The same thing applied to my parents and now to my sisters; they might have newish cars because they can afford them but I’m sure they don’t even know what kind of motor is underneath the hood. My uncle had several cars I would like to revisit, my favorite was the ’65 Mustang he had when I was in high school. It was a 289 with a four barrel and even had the Rally-Pak; to a high school student operating a clapped out six cylinder Ford that car seemed like heaven on earth.
My grandma asked me if I wanted her car shortly before she died (and we knew she only had 4-6 weeks left at best). I thanked her profusely but told her she should give it to my add, he only child,instead since he was still driving a 1985 Chevy Scottsdale Pickup and I was perfectly content in my 2006 Mazda3 5-door.
She died in Feb of last year (2012) and dad ended up with the car but he didn’t want it either. It was a 1990 Ford Crown Victoria LX, White with Grey-Beige Velour/Felt-like interior, showroom condition inside and out and 23,341 miles on the odometer! Despite the condition, the fact is neither of ever liked driving the thing, not even when it was new 23 years ago! It handled like a parade float (with flat tires on a wet day) and the steering had so much play in it that you could turn it at least 1/4 of a turn without it doing a thing. But it could track straight on the highway for even a split-second, constant steering corrections were required to try to stay between the lines….or at least between the ditches!
It had a very discreet High Output option package that wasn’t detectable unless you noticed the dual exhaust outlets (painted dull black) or raised the hood and High Output on the Air Filter assembly. It added several Heavy Duty upgrades – suspension, alternator, radiator, cooling fan and also added 15-20 hp. But it was so damn slow because of the wretched transmission’s performance (or lack thereof, to be specific). The only shot at moving faster than that 15-year old Tercel stopped next toyou was if you nailed it from a stop and littrally stood (raised butt off seat and pushed on seatback for leverage to hold the pedal) to make it rev as high as you could before upshifting! Because once it made the upshift, sometimes even flooring the gas and holding it wouldn’t force it to kick down from 4th! But it did have primitive computer controls that prevented a manual downshift using the rickety column shifter….shifting out of D to any lower gear usually resulted in NOTHING! Startiing out with the gear shifter in the L (1) position also would not hold the gear to anywhere near the redline (which was 5200 or 5500rpm per the manual, but the last thing you’d find in that car was tachometer. But in L it would upshift by 4000 rpm at full throttle, so it was even more maddening to drive than most dinosaur tanks that far outlived their usefulness!
My dad almost let a man have it for $3500 when we had the estate sale, but I intervened and put on an Oscar-caliber performance! With tears in my eyes, I told Dad I just couldn’t let him sell it, it was all I had to remember my Nana Sara by and I would keep it forever….no price could buy it! My dad looked really confused and I shot the would-be-buyer a ‘go away’ look and he left. Then I brought my laptop outside and showed Dad what similar ones in worse conddition with a lot more miles were selling for on Ebay Motors! We got $9200 for that godforsaken heap from a man who collects them and had 12 or 13 already….I found that kind of sad…but then I found out there is a Tempo/Topaz ‘enthusiast’ site and (not sure I can get this one out without heaving) a Ford Granada/Mercury Monarch fan site….I was relieved to see the counter showing it had only received 82 views since it’s creation in 2007….
My dad actually felt torn about whether to sell it or not at first, but I told him it would be ridiculous to let it sit and deteriorate more and more from never being driven. Instead, someone with very low automotive expectations could float around in it and he (we) could split the cash! Besides, Nana left me the one thing of hers that I love most- 1/3 of her net worth, which wasn’t huge, but I still ended up with almost $140k in cash….I never expected it, but she treated me, my sister and my dad equally (essentially treated my sister and I as her children, which was touching even though it we did more for her than her son (my dad) ever did, right up to changing her diapers and sleeping in the recliner or even on the edge of the bed beside her near the very end when she didn’t watn to be alone….I was glad to do it and truly expected nothing, but when I learned that she left us equal shares I felt like I should have done more somehow, but they say survivors guilt will do that….and she had one last surprise to pull me out of feeling sorry for myself….she had three small rental homes and her own house that she and my grandpa built and my dad grew up in. Her will stated that we each got a rental house (like Monopoloy only with real money) and we got to pick the one we wanted after drawiing straws to figure out who went first and second…I got first, so I picked the one worth more than the other two combined. Then she stated that we all three shared ownership of her house but could only selling IF all three of us wanted to do so and none of us wanted to live there. Given the pathetic real estate market, I helped my dad and step-mom remodel and move in….and it will be a piggy bank for the future or maybe even my own home someday,…./
I just remembered somethiing hilarious…I found my great-grandfather’s will in Nana’s personal things as we cleaned out the house after she died. He had a work truck, a car and a tractor- he left each of the three to the three oldest children (Nana got the tractor) and the seven younger kids each got a heffer or a donkey from the pasture! Can you imagine riding up on a new donkey and telling everyone its’ your inheritance!? One of my uncles was very eccentric and he let his Heffer (named Martha Lou) live inside his two-room clapboard shack with him…it was always a Don’t ASk, Don’t Tell, Don’t Leave Him Alone Near My Kids situation…He died and Martie (as I called his bovine vixen) grieved herself to death in less than three days…..oh crap, maybe we were supposed to feed her during those three days??? It’s all for the best, no other man could satisfy her I’m sure (and they’re already on the Sex Offendor Registry and lifetime ankle tracking devices anyway)….they buried Uncle Deedub (which was actually the illiterate, phonetic pronounciation of his initials, D.W., for Dillard Wyamn) and Martie together in a big hole they dug with Nana’s tractor….it all worked out….
After reading my post immediatley above this one, a quote came to mind that I feel must be shared-
It was spoken by the hot-to-trot Blanche Devereaux on The Golden Girls, “You know, we might’ve had a few more dollars than most people and I loved them dearly…but when you get right down to it, they were nothing but WHITE TRASH!”
My cousins 69 Z28 bought brand new. Tuxedo black white stripes, beautiful car. Grandpas 63 Chrysler Windsor in dark red. Push button auto and square steering wheel, 383. The old mans 53 Kaiser and his 65 Pontiac parissene sport coupe. Probably lots more if I think about long enough!