When I was a young gear head My first real drivable Hot rod was a 1957 sedan delivery, my gearhead buddies had their hot rods too, as I remember a 68 Chevelle, a 68 Nova SS a Plymouth Road Runner and a 64 Impala SS but there is always that one guy that marches to the beat of a different drummer, that was my buddy John !! while we were spending money on things like blown clutches and headers and Cragar's
he was cruising the Burbs with his 1965 Checker Marathon !! don't know its complete history but it was never a cab with no signs of ever being repainted it retained it's factory blue color, John was a bit different while everybody else kinda fell in with the crowd you always knew when John was around he was the guy in the long cowboy duster (even in the summer) and the wide brim fedora (brim tipped down in frt of course) kinda like a cross between Indiana Jones and Sam spade soft spoken but ever present.
He took his share of grief from his buddies for that car but he would just smile and say "hey when you take your favorite gal to the forest preserves tonight would you rather be in your little Nova back seat or my Checker back seat ? hard to argue !! .
I remember one night pulling in behind him , I saw no one in the car just as I was about to get out I saw a arm reach over the back of the back seat reach through a hole that was cut out for a 6x9 speaker and retract with a ice cold Stroh's extracted from the cooler in the trunk !!
I never did see a head so I just sat for a while and finally blew the horn to announce my presence to him and his lady friend.
Did you have a John in your crowd ? P/S he was best man in my wedding and we still stay in touch, he's still in Chicago area myself in PHX.

 

You could call me John sometimes, I drove a 53 Hudson Hornet all through high school, biggest and best back seat ever put in a 4 door sedan! When I needed to save money on gas I mounted a Mustang motorcycle, about as rare as my Hudson. Don't fear to be different, it's the other guy that is strange just ask me....Tedd

 

Solly, does John have a restored Checker? I kind of doubt it.

 

No restored Checker, he ventured into the world of British cars for a while with a MG and a Triumph TR-3 he got tired of the Lucas prince of darkness electrical systems and unloaded them, he said they were both pieces of crap !! he then had a really nice 1962 Cadillac vert for a while and sold it !! he then said I don't want to wash and wax anymore so he bought a rat rod (kinda) a 1950 Dodge, primer gray with flames and a flat head 6 and a visor of course. he has since sold that, and has nothing at the present time. however I'm pretty sure if the right Checker came his way he could be persuaded.

 

I always liked the big, comfortable cars rather than the muscle cars. I didn't drink or use drugs, and enjoyed good food instead. I always looked for work as a teen, and bought my first home at the age of 24. I stay out of debt, and avoid fads. Many would say I'm boring, I'd think they're stupid lemmings.

 

I have 3 GM A bodies, and that is fairly conventional. I also have a Ford Club Wagon of my old man's, and it gets either ignored, or absolutely loved at car shows by dudes that said "I worked on one, out of one, or in the back of one," and it gets incessantly mocked as a creeper van by my idiot millennial coworkers. I like the old thing; I grew up with it, and it's fun to drive around town with a 302 Ford and 4.11s.

 

When in high school, a friend, and about 8 months younger than me, so he had his licence , long before me, came to school in a 48 Cad fleetline, flathead, V8 with no mufflers. I thought it was great to ride around with him. His family had all kinds of cars, and then about a month later, he showed up in a 54Olds HT, that was more normal, but way more than most the guys had in school.

 

I could have been considered that guy. I didn't own a stang or Chevelle etc. I had a 59 Rambler Cross Country wagon once. Zero power. Cool car. Definitely not the favorite in the crowd. I loved it. Then I became an Olds guy.

 

Solly, I was kind of a John. As I stated in another thread, I drove a '69 Buick Sportwagon. Blue with the woodgrain sides. 350 2 bbl. I had an olds rearend out of a 442 that was 4.33 gears. I put that in the wagon and kicked a lot of a$$ in that car stoplight to stoplight. Even did what we called "Rat Racing" in my neck of the woods. Basically road racing on the streets, only there was no set path. The rat ran and you chased.

Put a mattress in the back and the dragon wagon was multi purpose.