Daniel's Baby

This is a true story ... with my poetic twitch. Be sure to let me know how you liked it. Cheers!!!



Daniel’s Baby
By
B.D. Adams
© 2009


Daniel is a car enthusiast! He has worked on car engines, rebuilt engines, found better engines and done a whole slew of body work on cars ... for himself and his friends. His main labor-of-love (besides me) is a 1937 Plymouth Sedan, which has been in his care since 1978.

He and I have not been together that long. The time we’ve been together, though, has taught me more about cars than I had ever known ... and the knowing has been worth it, indeed. It amazes me how we managed to meet with his travels from New Hampshire to California, back to New Hampshire!

“Lookin’ fer luv ... in all the nice Cruise-Ins!” (Eddie Rabbit’s song)
“That’s not how that song goes.”
“I know, but ... ain’t it catchy?”

His brothers, in Rhode Island, are into vintage cars, as well. His one brother has a 1932 Ford, totally restored. While the other has a 1967 Nova, with a killer engine! A car family, for sure.

“Where’s that rumbling coming from?”
“Rhode Island.”

Daniel doesn’t have a big garage just for his classic car ... he needs to share it with my piddling 1998 Plymouth 4-door. However, both his brothers have big, impressive garages just to work on their vintage vehicles. Mainly, they have their nice garages because they didn’t wander around the world, like Daniel has. He was in the Air Force. But, his garage/barn now in NH, is very adequate ... even though he shares.

One of the locations, to which he has towed the Sedan (which is how he refers to the vehicle) was to Merced, California. Unfortunately, his wife, at the time, was not into car restoration … at all. She kind of put a “big hold” on Daniel’s restoration plans ... like for twenty years. No work was done until they were divorced!

“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder ... don’t ya know!”
“Was his wife a beauty?”
“How should I know ... she’s not a car.”

So, once the restoration block was removed, the Sedan was reborn in California! The call was “full steam ahead!” He built and installed the 1955 Chrysler, 331 HEMI engine, which he ... according to his description ... made it sing like a bird!

“Ahhh ... who’s singing?”
“Daniel’s HEMI engine!”

He’s taken the Sedan from a dead, not working item ... scudsy, nasty ... unpainted piece of ca-ca ... being stored in a broken down barn in New Hampshire (originally) ... to a definite “work in progress” (in California) with some paint (a better paint job is in the plans presently), a better front-end (added in the current New Hampshire locale) and a sweet thundering engine! It always makes me smile when, at stoplights, other guys gun their pathetic “hamster-wheel-driven” engines, while they have no idea what they’re up against (see ... I’ve learned a lot)! This baby hauls ass!! It is a Streetrod!!

“What’s that Honda trying to do?”
“Embarrass its self.”

The Sedan is stored in our barn (newish ... not crumbling) during the winter ... for obvious reasons, of course. It’s never driven when it rains except by accident (still looking for windshield wipers to fit). Few Streetrods are ever driven in the winter ... if you’d ever check out how much the avid Rodder pays for their custom paint and designs, you’d understand.

Has it made me jealous how Daniel coddles the Sedan? Not really. I enjoy riding in this vintage mode of transportation. We’re always stared at as we cruise along. Even Harley Bikers give us a hearty “thumbs up” as we all pass. No, not jealous at all. Now, if he would ever put a cot in the barn and sleep there at night ... that would be a major relationship question for me.

“Uh ... where’s Daniel?”
“Ticking me off.”
“Why?”
“He wants us to move in with the Sedan.”
“Oh.”