"THE 38 CHEVY"

After I wrote about my grandfather’s garage, I felt that I should write about the car that inhabited that place. My grandfather had a 38 Chevy long after I was born: It was black and the seats inside were made of wool. Running boards on the outside made it fun for my cousins and me to stand on when we were playing in or around that car. I know that my grandfather did not drive that car much because he only drove it to work to the furniture store of which he was part owner and to The Pub, a then-local beer place, to get his cigars. The rest of the time it either sat out in the partial driveway or was in the garage.

When I say partial driveway I mean that my dad and uncle poured cement for two wide strips that led to the garage. Not much of a driveway but it was what my grandfather wanted and what he got.

Since he smoked cigars, my cousins and I would get the small wrappers and put them on our fingers. Probably where I developed my much later ring fetish no doubt. But I can remember sitting in the hot back seat with my female cousin putting those cigar bands on our fingers  and itching at the same time from those wool seats. And it was hot as Hades in that car in the summer. No air conditioning in a model 38 Chevy. If there had of been, rest assured that my grandfather would not have used it. When it came to things, he was on the stingy side except with whatever we, the grandchildren, wanted and then it was no holds barred as the saying goes.

Never remember that Chevy being ever dirty. Not sure where he went to have it cleaned but it was not as his house. When he died, my grandmother sold it for she didn’t know how to drive and had no need for it. And there went another play place for my cousins and me—it was our secret place to sit in and swelter and pretend.

To this day, I can remember how it felt to sit on those hot wool seats while wearing shorts in the summer and it was not good. But the cigar bands of my grandfathers were an added bonus to being in that car. I do have a picture of it and will post it later. Whoever bought it sure did get a good deal because it no doubt had little mileage and was in tip top shape. Many times I wonder who it was who bought it or where that car is now and I have a sneaking feeling that it is still somewhere in my town.

Sherry Hill