My '57 Chevy...or why you don't raise your hand at an auction!

See the picture above? She's a beauty, no?? Well, imagine sitting in one of these beautifully restored 1957 Chevy's on a major expressway in Chicago... with no gas! That's what happened to me about 2 hours after I bought her... but I'm getting ahead of myself here. Let's start at the beginning...

I used to read Hemmings Automotive magazine, which is the "bible" for car collectors. I saw that there was to be an auction near Chicago of antique and mid-1950's - 1960's cars that weekend. We packed up a picnic lunch, and Saturday morning got into my Jeep Cherokee and headed north to Lake Bluff, Illinois. When we got to the auction site, I couldn't believe what I was seeing.



There must have been 200 cars lined up on display for a pre-auction inspection. One of them caught my eye immediately. Like the photo above, it was a cherry red and white 1957 Chevrolet 2 dr hardtop, with red and silver vinyl seats, power brakes, power windows (both of which were VERY rare in a 1957 model - supposedly they only made a few hundred of them). My childhood dream! (Well, not really... she got away, but that's a secret!)



The car looked really hot. I got behind the huge steering wheel, and them memories of my childhood came flowing back. I dreamed of driving along the highway, stopping at an A&W Root beer drive-in restaurant, grabbing a big frosty mug of root beer and a burger, teasing the waitresses, then roaring off in a cloud of dust!



Remember the old advertising jingle... "See the USA, in your Chevrolet..."??? YEAH!!!



The auction started... the cars flew by, the auctioneer droned on with his almost rapid fire, unintelligible babble of auctioneering semantics... when the Chevy came up...



The bidding was fast and furious in $100 then $500 clips... going once, going twice... silence...I don't know what got into me, but... I raised my hand... SOLD to the young man (I liked that auctioneer!!! HA HA) on the left! $13,5000 GONE!



Whew... my hands were shaking as I went to the sale booth and took out my checkbook.. a word to the wise here... NEVER GO TO AN AUCTION WITH YOUR CREDIT CARDS OR CHECKBOOK! BIG TROUBLE!!



I wrote out the check, and signed a few transfer papers, got a temporary license plate and the HOT CHERRY RED 1957 CHEVY was mine!



I should have asked if the gauges, and everything else was working, but I was too excited. I handed the Jeep keys to one of my friends, and the rest of us piled into the Chevy for the ride back to Chicago.



The gas gauge showed half a tank of gas... I should have known better! Anyway, after turning the key and the engine coming to life with a few huffs and then just a nice purrrrr, we drove off. It was quite an experience driving such a primitive car. First, the steering wheel was HUGE.. probably 15 inches or so across, maybe more. Then the steering was not power assisted.. so you really had to work to turn the wheels when you weren't moving. Also, it was very HOT inside, as the sun was baking on the rooftop of the car.



I remember opening the vents... yes, there were these little triangular "vents" or side windows you could open inwards to direct air into and onto the passengers and passenger compartment. I also remember that the gas gauge stayed on half... I was too excited to think about that until....brumpppPPPppp...putt putt putt... SILENCE! No freekin' gas!



OK... not so bad... we were on a major expressway, and just had to wait for a passing motorist to stop... fortunately one did, and one of my friends jumped into their car for a quick ride to a gas station. Shortly, he was back with a "jerry can" and 5 gallons of gas.



Things were looking up, right?? WRONG... do you remember where the gas filler cap is in a '57 Chevy?? Well, I didn't!! Neither did any of my friends. We looked everywhere... behind the license plate... every where! Couldn't find it... S!!#$%%T..



Luckily, an Illinois State Trooper pulled over, who was a car buff. Son, it's right behind the fin's chrome edge he said, and sure enough... that's where it was! (See photo).

Getting back underway, we naturally had to stop at every drive-in burger joint along the highway!! And, naturally, we had a lot of root beers and burgers!

When we got home, I parked her proudly in front of my driveway, stepped back... what a gorgeous car she was!

I drove her a lot actually... I used to love parking it in a lot, and waiting about 5 minutes.. there would be a huge crowd around her, admiring, pointing, gawking!

I used to care for her myself. I used a good grade of carnuba wax every few months, a good car wash detergent, and in between all of that, I would wipe her down before and after a drive with my KozaK Auto DryWash cloth. Waterlessly, the KozaK would take off all the road dirt and dust. It would polish the Chevy without water, and without scratching! The KozaK cloth was also great on the chrome... and this baby had a lot of it!

For the interior, I would spray it with a Lexol product called Vinylex, which would penetrate into the vinyl seats and dashboard and side panels (which were also Red and Silver) and remove the dirt, keep the vinyl protected with the built in UV Sunscreen, but never leave a greasy film or unnatural shine.

I can still see her now... gleaming in the sun, just waiting for someone to turn the key and bring her to life. I sold her a few years later... I wonder what ever happened to her???

A bit of history! Musings of times gone past....

Many years ago... more than I'd like to admit, it was the early '60's to be precise, when I fell in love with my first "Muscle Car".

My friend Otto and I were sharing an apartment in Atlantic City, New Jersey. It was in a condemned building right on the famous Atlantic City Boardwalk on Florida Avenue (there is a Trump Casino there now) that was literally held together by these HUGE metal straps! No kidding!! We paid $400 to rent the place for the entire summer of '64 (we kept renting it through '69) and we would drive down there every Friday night in Otto's mom's brand new, 1964 Pontiac GTO.

That car was HOT... Cherry Red in color, white convertible top, white genuine imitation leather seats (bucket seats no less), glass pack mufflers, dual or triple barrel carburetor, Hearst shifter, and a huge 7 or 8 liter engine. It was a real chick magnet! And just to be sure, we even had a telephone installed in the car (remember this was 1964... mobile phones hadn't been invented yet).

Well, sort of... you see, we took an old telephone handset, and a cord, and glued it to the underside of the dashboard and put the handset in the glove compartment. Otto hooked up a ringer with a switch.. it was very loud.. and when we got stuck in traffic, or pull alongside some cute young ladies, we would press the ringer button, reach into the glove compartment and "answer" the phone! Hellooooo... Oh... it's for you... and we'd hand the handset out the window to whoever was in the car next to us!

Sounds stupid today... well, it was, but you had to be there to see it then. It ALWAYS got laughs. Sometimes we'd pull into an A & W Root Beer drive-in, order a burger and a frosted mug... mmmmmm... sooo good!... of root beer, and press the ringer when the waitress arrived. I wish you could have seen their faces! Hahaha.. we had a great time with that car.

I remember one summer night, we were coming home... it was a very hot and humid summer Sunday evening and we were stuck in a traffic jam on the Atlantic City Expressway, going from AC to Philadelphia. We had the top down, and were just listening to the radio (AM of course) when there was a news bulletin... the Astronauts.. Neal Armstrong had just landed on the moon. The hairs still go up on the back of my neck when I think of that moment.

That car was hot! In return for letting us use the car on weekends, we promised Otto's mom that we'd wash and clean the car for her.. wax it too. And that's where the KozaK Auto DryWash cloth came in.

We wanted to maximize our time riding in the car, and minimize the time we spent maintaining it..so..we got lucky. My grandfather came over one day and handed me a red package (no.. not an hong pau!) and said simply.."I've used this for years.. give it a try".

We ripped it open and unfolded the cloth inside. He took us outside and showed us how to use it. It was just amazing. He padded it up, and just wiped the car down in short, straight strokes. The road dust and dirt just disappeared into the cloth, leaving the car's finish glowing! In 10 minutes, WITHOUT ANY WATER, that '64 "Goat" as they were called was lookin' show room new.

I was hooked. My grandfather later told me that his dad gave him one, when he got his first car. That was a DeSoto Station Wagon.. probably in the '40's or late '30's. He had used them (the KozaK's) since and now, I guess, it was my turn. Right of passage perhaps? Father to son? Whatever... the KozaK had been invented in 1926... and is still used today! Go to http://www.kozakasia.com/ and read all about it.

And, I have used them ever since... on everything from a 1937 Plymouth (with Rumble seat) to a Dodge Viper, Ferrari Testarosa, Jaguar XJR and XK8, BMW 840i, a Lexus, my own '64 Pontiac GTO, my favorite 1957 Chevy (with power windows!), Datsun 240Z, Lotus Europa, Toyota Camery, Honda Civic, Rolls Royce Silver Shadow, and my very favorite "Pimp Mobile" ... a gorgeous, HUGE, 1985 Mercedes SEL Long Wheelbase with a FULL GERMAN AMG conversion. My cars were my love... and trust me, they were massaged and oiled frequently... but the KozaK cloth was for everyday cleaning and polishing. And those cloths NEVER, EVER, scratched the finish on one of my babies. NEVER.

That car was GORGEOUS... it was a special edition, painted in a deep Porsche Navy Blue, with very dark tinted windows, and huge wide Pirelli tires. The car had the full AMG body treatment, with spoiler, ground effect scoops... the whole nine yards, and the engine was completely redone by AMG in Germany and brought to the US as a "Grey Market Car". It must have been putting out 500 horses or more. On top of that, my mechanic, Brian, installed a super turbocharger on the engine that positively made it SCREAM down the highway. I could do zero to 60mph in less than 5 seconds, and the top speed was over 150mph. Not bad for a 4500 pound 1985 Merc, no?

Hey... let me tell you how I bought that car. It's a very good story. One Christmas evening in 1986 I was having a Christmas party in my home near Chicago. I was trading options on the CBOE back then, and commodities on the CBOT, and was having a few of my trading buddies and their wives over for dinner. One of them, Terry Boyle drove up in that '85 Mercedes and my jaw dropped open when he swung around my driveway. It was gorgeous... he had bought it for his wife Stella a few months before for $110,000 (1986 dollars!). He was really pissed too... his wife hated the car, and Terry didn't need it as he had quite a stable of cars himself. I took him aside and said..."I'll buy it... how much?" He said, let me think about it and I'll let you know in a little while" was his reply. Well, I made sure that Terry had a LOT to drink that night!

Later on he kinda staggered over, and said he'd sell it for $55,000. I ran upstairs and wrote him a check... and sent him and Stella home in a Taxi. The car was MINE! I kept that car until 2000 or 2001 and drove it almost every day. Went through a lot of tires too! Usually every 8000 miles or so.

I used to clean that car every day with my KozaK. I can tell you that when I would park that car on the street, a crowd would gather around it and just stare at it. It was that beautiful. People would ask me.."who details your car"... I would open the trunk and pull out the KozaK and they were amazed how easy it was. No BullS*%T.. it really works!

More later..... but check out the KozaK cloth on http://www.kozakasia.com/