My turn...
I am a married 37 year old marine biologist in Watsonville, CA whos wife has
her priorities in order.
In 1981 I was looking for a car to replace my gas-guzzling '69 Mustang and
ran across a nice SIV that was overpriced (or at least I thought). In
passing I mentioned my disappointment at being priced out of the SIV to a
co-worker who immediately said, "You should meet my friend Marsh!"
Marsh turned out to be an aging gentleman, frustrated by his deteriorating
health. He had a beautiful SII that he hadn't driven in years because a
stroke had taken most of his mobility. The car was/is very original with
overdrive, wires and special trim. I fell in love with it the first time I
saw it. Black on black under about an inch of dirt and dust. The odometer
read 69,000 miles. We met a number of times and became fairly well
aquainted. He feared that his family wouldn't see the value in the car and
that they might junk it. He agreed to sell it to me for $1000.
I dropped in a new batterey, checked fluids, cranked it over and drove it
home. The engine burned oil badly, though, and I decided to rebuild it after
a year or so. (BTW, to register the car I had to go to one of those CA
official state run smog bays. Since the SII vents its crankcase to the
street, you can imagine the cloud the car and its bad rings created. It
passed because of the lax requirements on older cars. The brand new Ferrari
in line in front of me didn't. Lots of colorful language from the Ferrari
owner that day! But I digress...)
Back to my wifes priorities. When it came time to rebuild the motor, I was
a starving student ready to make the big commitment to my then wife to be,
Rebecca. She said, "I don't need some big rock on my finger! Let's use the
money to rebuild the Alpine." Not only did she make this sacrifice, but at
one point she even picked up the new valve lifters and gaskets at Sunbeam
Specialties for me (not a trivial thing since we lived 300+ miles away at
the time). Thus the little roadster became as much a bond as any engagement
ring. If this all seems hard to believe, consider that her maiden name is
Studebaker. (No kidding!)
A year later I had it back on the road. It has followed me through college
and graduate school and now comes out to play on sunny days. It was of
course never a replacement for regular transportation. I replaced the
Mustang with a Toyota Starlet. I have only occasionally used the Alpine for
commuting when I was repairing our regular cars (mostly nondescript
econoboxes of various breeds).
Thanks to all for the great stories.
James Downing
'63 SII
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