~ Chapter 65 - "It's Like That "

~ Chapter 65 ~

~ "It's Like That" ~

~ It would be 1957 and I was marching through a field with my fellow troops in Fort Bliss, El Paso, Texas and there it was on a bill board, the most beautiful car I had ever seen before ~ It was a brand new '57 Plymouth Fury and I would fall in love with another machine since I joined the National Guard that very same year after telling my Dad at his request what we should do with his '49 Custom Chevy that I did for him ~ Since there were some minor rust spots on the Chevy I had suggested that he sell that car and so he did and no sooner than he put a 'For Sale' on the car someone grabbed is and it was gone ~ "It's like that"

~ Just last night on June 17, 2017 my wife and I were watching Humphrey Bogart in a movie called, "The Big Sleep" where he said in one scene, "It's like that" and I almost broke a gut when I heard him say that and we could not stop from laughing lol ~ I tried finding that scene on YouTube but had no luck even tho it was a very important scene with that saying, "It's like that " lol ~

~ Fast forward to 1967 and my '57 Plymouth had given my family great service thru all those ten years but had reached a period of no return ~ A neighbor, co-worker named Stan and myself were looking for a new used car because both our cars were starting to look weary and although I hated to do it it appeared that we reached that time ~

We had both agreed to take a ride to Reading, Pennsylvania where there was this very large used car dealer that many folks knew about and was suppose to have a great inventory of cars on their huge aches and aches of land ~ So off Stan and I went to find and inspect these cars that were so wonderful ~

When we reached our destination the plan was to look over these cars and when we found a car that we liked we would tell a salesmen and the would allow us to drive it on their huge parking lot ~ After going thru this process several times we decided that none had satisfied us and away we went never to return again ~

When we reached Staten Island my poor '57 Plymouth had had it and it collapsed right than and there and it looked like it would not be able to move any more ~ After dropping Stan off at his house I drove home and started looking in the used cars section of the local newspaper ~ I was able to find a listing of a 2 door '64 Ford Galaxie XL with only 1500 miles on it ~ Being that I now luv'd the style and color white that this car had I decided to have a look at it so off I went to Silver Lake Park where the car was based on my phone call to the owner ~ When I reached their private home where the car was located I found that the car was owned by the wife of the man that I spoke to on the phone and the mileage had mistakenly been listed incorrectly as it was really 15000 miles and not the 1500 miles as the man told me ~ Be it as it may I still like every thing about the car and bought it on the spot ~ So I repeat one more time once, "It's Like That" ~

~ I had a '64 Ford Galaxy 500 XL and I built a ramp out of wood and steel that I got from my neighbor Bob as he worked in a steel mill ~ I left two openings that I cut in the wood that would hold the tires ~ The steel wrapped around the wood and the end of the steel was bent in such a way that I could fit them over the rear bumper that in those days were real steel and chrome bumpers unlike those that we have on todays cars ~ I would than lift the Motorcycle one wheel at a time and put the wheel in the cut out holes ~ I than found that the back of the car would sag down from the extra weight of the Motorcycle ~ So I managed to get coil springs in between my rear axel and the leaf springs that came with the car so that the car would not sag anymore due to the extra weight and off I went riding into the sunset ~ lol ~ Oh and one more thing, the coil springs were held in place by steel coat hangers that I folded over the springs and the cars body frame ~ I may not be Albert Einstein but with a lot of determination so I can get important things done ~