Hi everyone, just joined up. Looking forward to a lot of good discussions.

Perhaps the best way to introduce myself and my car is to tell you the story of the car, and how it came to be I have it (back).

I just got married a couple of weeks ago (March 11) to an amazing woman.  What she's brought to my life leaves me simply speechless. I have a whole new life ahead of me thanks to her, and a very strong tie to my past as well.

You see, my '58 was a wedding gift from my wife.  It isn't just any '58 however, its the '58 from my childhood.

My parents were married in 1963. Dad had taught my Mom how to drive while they dated. Along with starting their new life together, they bought themselves another car. A 1958 Chrysler Windsor 4-door sedan. It was Mom's main transportation for work, and their 'good' car they used when traveling together. I came along in 1969 and may have come home from the hospital in the car (Mom thinks so, but doesn't remember for sure).

Sometime in the early to mid 70's, the '58 rolled the odometer over to ‘00,000.0’ miles. As it did, Dad pulled over to the side of the road and disconnected the cable. They finished the last mile or two home where he put the car up on blocks. His intention was for that '58 to be a father-son project to teach me about cars. Time together for he and I was fairly limited then as he worked long hours, usually leaving for work long before I got up in the morning and getting home in time for a bite to eat and to get some sleep. In 1979 he was suddenly taken from us by an on the job construction accident. I was 10 years old.

The car continued to sit on blocks until 1984 when Mom and I moved from our little town of 500 people to Bismarck. She wanted to find work and also wanted to provide a life with more opportunities for me than our small hometown could provide. My uncles got the '58 running & driving again. I used it to drive to high school for a few weeks, but being a 25-year old car, it needed work. The brakes were bad, the steering and suspension were ready to drop the front wheels, it started hard, etc. At barely 16 years old, I knew nothing of what to do or how to do it. We took it to a few local shops, but they either couldn't find parts or screwed up the job. The brakes were "fixed" so bad it was nearly undriveable. We knew it wasn’t safe for me to be driving but wanted to hold on to it, so we ended up parking the car back in that little town at my Grandparents house. Grandpa put up a bit of a fuss over it. He didn’t want that old thing junking up his yard (never mind the line of junk heaps my cousin had sitting there…). Under pressure from him, we made the very hard decision to let the car go. My grandfather handled the sale for us, as neither of us had the heart to do it or see it leave. It was almost like losing Dad all over again.

Over the next few years I took shop in high school, learned some from new friends, and self-taught with demo derby cars (what was I out if I screwed it up?) I got to where I could diagnose and fix most things.

I kept in contact with the new owner of the '58 for a while, but he had no interest in ever selling it back. The last time I spoke with him, he had just built a shop to do a restoration of it in. I took some solace in knowing it had a good home, and tried to move on. But I know my friends had to have gotten tired of hearing about the car. I never forgot; I just couldn't let go.

Fast forward to last spring. My girlfriend and I are out & about, just enjoying a day together and got talking about dream cars. I told her the story of the ’58. To be honest, it has nothing to do with the year, make, or model.  It was the sentimental attachment that placed that car at the top of my list.

Fast forward again to this last March 11th. Our wedding was to have been May 6th, but we found out at the end of November that we’re going to become parents come August. We decided to bump up the wedding day so Kim wouldn’t be showing much yet. When we realized March 11th would be a Saturday, we knew that had to be the day. You see, March 11th is also my father’s birthday. I’d been feeling very lonesome for my dad since finding out I’m going to be one too. Any time I let myself think about it, I catch myself crying. I couldn’t imagine a more appropriate tribute to him than starting my new life on his birthday.

The wedding day itself was a huge mix of emotion as you can imagine. Excitement, anxiety, nervousness; the happiness of seeing friends and family, the sadness of missing dad; all mixed with this utter frustration of being locked away in a back room of the church. I wanted to be out & about, having fun, seeing people, etc. Instead, I was kind of confined to the back so I wouldn’t see the bride before the service (or the car hiding outside as it turned out).

The service went off perfectly. My bride, stunning. Still feeling this mix of emotion we exit the church to go to the reception.


I can’t put into words the emotion I felt coming out of the church to see none other than that exact father-son project 1958 Chrysler Windsor sitting at the bottom of the steps of the church.

My wonderful new bride had not just tracked down a close match to the car, she found the exact car and convinced the owner to sell it back to us. It was a little worse for wear from when I last saw it, as it never received the planned restoration. The owner had became more interested in antique tractors and the car sat languishing in the back of a quonset for a number of years. But not having been restored left the car affordable for my wife and much closer to the car I remember from my childhood.  She and I have always believed everything happens for a reason...

And now you know my story and the story of my car.  You know I have a wonderful wife and that I'm a sentimental fool.  And you'll get to know the car pretty well too, as I'm sure I'll be here a lot asking for advice.  My plan is a full 'driving' restoration, as I want to keep it on the road.  I intend to stay stock with the exception of updated brakes.

I'm looking forward to getting to know all of you.  See ya again soon.

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Thanks for the welcome guys!

I feel pretty lucky to have such a great lady as my wife!

I've had a better chance to look the car over now, she's got some rough spots, but overall pretty good and very much the way I remember her from my childhood.  I'm still going back thru the old threads here trying to catch up on brake upgrade options and all I can find on the 58's, Windsors in particular.  Doesn't look like there's too many around.

Thanks Dakota!!!!!!

I see a roadtrip in the very near future!  Are they open Saturdays?

'Dakota, would that yard be Hedge's or John Eichenger(sp?) out on old 12?

Cool, thanks FinFan!