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The first car show I took Penny to was
in 1988, right after I got her on the road after buying her, I
got the car together just in time for the car show. It was an
Imperial International car club rally in a Park In Pennsylvania. The paint
was starting to ware off but the original radio was still working. I
cranked up the local AM oldies radio show WFIL that was playing some great 50's
tunes. I don't know if it was the dash, the grill, the fins, or just the
radio but, the car was a hit.
The next car show I took Penny
to was in 2006. Little bit of a gap there, 18 years later. Kool April Nights in
Redding CA. I just got the car all put to together in time for the car show,
with new paint. The radio is not working now, on the list of to do's. It was the
only Imperial of any year, with over 4000 cars in attendance, Met a bunch of
interesting people. I show the car when I can, but she's not finished yet. You
all have Imperials so you know the response these cars get. I love the stories
that total strangers come up and tell you because of the car.
Just my 2 cents worth,
Marty Trendler
1959 Imperial LeBaron "Penny"
Off to Florida
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, September 18, 2007 6:56
PM
Subject: Re: IML: The exclusive
Imperial
Ooh, couldn't resist this thread after all.
After spending years getting my 58 to drivable condition, I was mighty proud
of myself. The car looked like a scrapyard refugee but nobody was ever
more proud of his car. At a summer swap meet in Fredericksburg, Texas, I
came across the San Antonio Mopar club called the Mopar Muscle Club of San
Antonio. I visited a while and they told me where their monthly meet was
held, at one of the nation's first ever drive-ins called, I kid you not, The
Pig Stand.
I went down the next month in my little VW
Cabriolet and scoped out the rows of gleaming Mopar muscle cars. The
following month, following Woody Allen's sage advice, that 88% of life is just
showing up, I took the Bomb, as I used to call my 58, down to the Pig
Stand. The crowded parking lot parted like the Red Sea as I drove
through. I could tell I had made a good decision. I was ushered
into a covered, coveted, spot near the restaurant, a real honor it turned
out. Folks crowded round the car like it was a miraculous
apparition. They didn't wait for me to open the hood. "I told you
it had a Hemi," was the general tenor of the admiring comments.
I soon met with the president of the club.
I started out with an apology. I said I know my car isn't a muscle car
but I hoped they wouldn't mind me crashing the party for a while.
"Heck," he said, "If it's got a Hemi, you're in. Even if it doesn't, it
still a really cool ride." Since then I took it on any number of
cruises, my favorite car activity, parades, where the club always loves to put
its magnetic signs on the big fins on the 58, and even their car shows.
One year, the sign I put up saying "Don't Judge" blew away and they did judge
it which was mutually dispiriting but who really cares. One year a whole
bunch of folks brought their Imperials to the San Antonio Mopar show.
Tim Klein even won a prize for his 67 or 68. (Sorry, sir, I can't
remember.)
So I started off as the lone Imperial and ended
up starting a trend of sorts. The bottom line is our cars look better
unrestored than many do after the infusion of many, many dollars.
Something about a silk purse and a sow's ear comes to mind. You just
can't hide style. Faded beauty is better than no beauty at
all.
Hugh
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