There are literally millions of old rides on the road and all of them have common bonds.
The most obvious connection is history because; by definition ‘old ride’ means they were built a number of years ago.
Another common bond is the mother bear protects cub bear mentality with these cars so when one owner’s baby is attacked, every owner feels the pain.
Jake Feenstra is the proud owner of a mint 1956 Ford Crown Victoria and his story begins like many car guy narratives as he explained:“I bought it because I had one in the 60s but it was the model just below the Crown Victoria”.
Jake’s quest took some time because he wanted a mint example of a relatively rare car:”It was two years ago , I was talking to a guy and told him I was looking for a Crown Victoria and he says I’ve got one for you”.
This conversation did not produce instant results as Jake explained:“It took me two years to talk him out of it because it came from a collection”. Clearly the owner didn’t want to break up the set but Jake was a motivated guy.
Transitions from museum piece to driver status for old iron clearly involve more miles on the odometer:“I went across the country as a courtesy and ran into the previous owner in Thunder Bay and he told me about the other two guys who owned it”.
Jake learned how well-documented this Crown Victoria’s history was from the outset:“It was built in California back in September 1955 and it was rebuilt about 10,000 miles ago”.
There were very few problems with this ’56 Crown Vicky but like most mechanical devices pushing 60 years old,it did have a few minor issues:“I replaced the carburetor because they’re always the first thing to go on these cars”.
Jake is happy with the results on the road because this car was built to drive back in the fall of 1955: “It’ll keep right up with anything on the road but you have to compensate for 50s technology when you’re driving it but that also means you can diagnose these things”.
Translated…don’t drive it like you’re behind the wheel of a new Ford Taurus but if you do have a problem you’ll probably be able to fix it with a screwdriver and a pair of pliers.
This is a beautiful example of a classic 50s car so Jake expected to get some respect from the public for his classic but this is an imperfect world. He parked it overnight at a motel and came out to find a corrosive substance splashed over the hood and fenders of his pristine, museum quality car.
Jake explained:“It happened in Osoyoos, I’d driven it quite a bit that week into Alberta and back to BC now it’s going into the body shop next week”. The damage was obvious and it really marred the finish of a beautiful car.
Jake had a normal reaction to this vandalism:“I’m an easy going guy but if I caught the guy who did this I don’t know what would happen even at my age. My wife told me to calm down and don’t be silly but it really makes you mad”.
He summed it up like a true car guy would:
“This is my baby and my wife understands this”.
Jerry Sutherland
CLICK HERE to Like us on Facebook
CLICK HERE to Follow us on Twitter
CLICK HERE to Follow us on Pinterest
Please re-post this if you like this article.
