(The celebrated Oak Drive-In Theater, now sadly demolished in the interest of progress. Photo Keith Milford).
It was a day for drive-ins. No, not what you are thinking- we will get back to a discussion of the real way to enjoy a film- or something even more exciting one of these days- and take a tour the passion pit that was The Oak Drive in in Royal Oak, Michigan.
August is the time for people to drive their cars to fields and parking lots and let folks take a look at their rolling treasures. There were some great Rambler Americans on display from one of the oldest places in the country- Kilmarnock, on Virginia’s historic Northern Neck:
(1968 Rambler American convertible in cherry condition and custom paint at a drive-in event on the Northern Neck. Photo Jacoby).
Car events are happening all across the country- it is the time. From our seasoned correspondent Mules come these images of the 2014 Concours D’LeMons:
(We had the sedan model of this trim little 1962 American. Fuel efficient and fun to drive for Big Mama. Concours D’LeMons photos by Mules).
(We were one of the few three-Gremlin families I knew. Amazing little rides- I had to keep re-paining the one in metallic gray for some reason. AMC design Chief Dick Teague drew the concept on the back of an airsickness bag on a long flight back from the coast. Teague’s long career is what caused Raven to jump to appliance design, since it was apparent he could never move up to replace him).
Mules said the Seaside, CA, Concours D’LeMons had a good crowd and was a great event, and I believe it. The show celebrates “the Oddball, Mundane, and Truly Awful of the Automotive World. It is in deliberate counterpoint to the auctions where a rare Ferrari can go for a few dozen millions, and showcases some fo the stuff real people drive in the real world.
Former late night talk show host and King of the Car Guys, Jay Leno liked it to. You will see behind the famous profile an AMC Pacer, one of the most bizarre rides on the road in its day.
I got lost in a reverie of the old cars, and it occurred to me that Raven’s last Rambler was a memorable one, too, and it would have been fun to hang onto.
Raven’s last real car was Chrysler PT Cruiser, which he loved dearly until that incident with the deer over by Harbor Springs. But the last car he had was a present from Spike.
I invite my brother to contribute the story of the genesis of the 1957 Sedan’s arrival in the Little Village by the Bay. He apparently found it in some lot in Arizona, and it was a clean car, no corrosion like the old cars are riddled with in the upper Midwest from the salt treatment on the winter roads.
Looking back on it, I should have kept the thing when I was in the process of liquidating the estate. But I had to sell the house and get rid of 63 years of married bliss, and the cars had to go. Mom’s little Neon was first, and then the Rambler went. This fuzzy phone picture captures the last time Raven was in a car that he helped to design:
And as much as we love these rolling relics, I have to say that they are big pieces of inconvenient steel when you need to get rid of them.
Tires going flat, engine dead as a doornail, seats needed work, but it was mostly all there, trunk full of disassociated parts and trim bits, including the ominous spreading pool of oil underneath.
As Raven began to fail, Big Mama tried to keep things afloat. A local guy was doing some restoration work that they could no longer afford, or really even remember, and she became suspicious that the guy was ripping her off. She was not much of a car person- all she expected from her cars was that they started and got her where she needed to go. So, the massive old car sat silent in the Taj Garage next to the house for years.
If I hadn’t been so busy….
In the end, I called the Purple Heart guys, and they dispatched a wrecker to come and get the thing.
I had mixed feelings when they winched it onto the truck. The wheels were frozen, and it was quite a process for whoever wound up with it. We could use the tax deduction to close things out, I figured, and it was one less thing that had to be managed in the chaos.
But on a lovely August Day, it certainly would have been fun to drive Raven’s Last Rambler to the big show out in Indiana, you know?
(Raven’s Last Rambler goes to the big showroom in the sky).
Copyright 2014 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com
Twitter: @jayare303