> HOW I’VE KEPT MY CAR 50+ YEARS
As told to Eye Candy curator Alf Holden on Nov. 3
The car: 1964 Rambler Classic Cross Country station wagon
The owner: Harry and Pat Hodgson, Sutton, Ont.
The story: I just have not been able to wear it out. I think we got the Rambler in the fall of 1963 because I know I had it all of ’64. My wife drove too, somebody was always going someplace, and for years it never hardly cooled off.
I used to raise it up in the backyard and spray the hell out of it (the underside) with used motor oil. Everybody would complain if they went to get in and got oil on themselves. But they all rusted, back then; if the oil wasn’t there, the car wouldn’t be. I went with that theory, and that’s what’s kept it so long. Even with so many miles there’s still not much rust. It’s had a couple of rough deals — a car backed into the rear corner.
The Rambler has American Motors’ 287 cubic-inch V8, which runs like a clock. I’ve overhauled the motor, that’s years ago — valves, rings, it had a lot of miles on it. It’s got around 400,000 now and that’s miles, not kilometres. I’ve had the power steering, but took the power brakes off because they were just too wild. I put on standard brakes.
I did most of the mechanical work. I’m going on 86, and I also have a 1931 Willys that I have owned since I was 16 years old.
What I liked was that I could depend on the Rambler. Never had any trouble, she just seemed to go forever. I worked on cars all the time and lots that hadn’t anywhere gone as far were having trouble.
Memories? My first wife grew up in Toronto. Her mother and father lived there and we’d drive down often on the weekend. We never seemed to get out of there until midnight. Our kids, the three of them, would stretch out and sleep all the way home, in the back of the wagon. Very dangerous, like a lot of things we used to do.
My first wife died 16 years ago, and Pat and I got together. We don’t use the car much anymore. But you can see by the bumper stickers we have gone in it to flea markets, to Hershey, car shows, a lot of that stuff. AMC is gone too, but I’m happy they went to Chrysler. Jeep put Chrysler back on the road. Show us your candy: Got a cool custom or vintage car? Send us pictures of you and your family with your beauty, and tell us your story. The more photos the better — of the interior, trim, wheels, emblems, what you admire. Email wheels@thestar.ca and be sure to use “Eye Candy” in the subject line.