Old car, renewed

Dave's uncle called tonight to chat about his latest project: a complete, from the tires up restoration of a classic 1955 Chevy BelAir. And not just any car--this is the car he bought when he got out of the army in the early 1960's, the car he gave to Dave when he was in high school. It was his first car, and he spent countless hours under the hood and under the chassis, making it run perfectly. When we got together, it was the car he drove in the winter; the rest of the year he drove a 1967 MGB roadster.

When we got married and moved to Tri-Cities, the car came with us. It lived in the garage, and we took it out occasionally. But it wasn't "us" by that time, so when we visited Uncle Tom one fall, we hauled the car to Colorado and gave it back to him.

The car sat in the yard for a few decades, then Tom decided to pour some bucks into it, and restore it back to its original beauty. For the past year, he's torn it down to bare metal, and everything--from sheet metal to upholstery to glass--has been renewed or replaced.

This summer, Dave will fly to Colorado, and he and his uncle will drive it back to the Northwest... the ultimate road trip. I'm going to search out a classic car show for him to take it to... what better way to celebrate all the effort than by showing it off to people who understand what it takes to bring a classic car back to life.