Re: IML: Imperial love / hate relationship

Hugh,
I feel your pain with small garages. My wife and I decided to relocate (retire?) to Myrtle Beach, SC. We went down last April to do some house hunting but I quickly became disappointed with the 19' garages which were common. Upon arrival at each of the 50 or so houses we looked at, the first stop was the garage and a quick measurement to see in the Imperial would fit in. Only found a few and they were either ridiculously priced or not acceptable to the boss for some reason or another. Finally decided to build. Garge is 25x25 and has a 10 foot ceiling....lift maybe. My queen will fit in with a few feet to spare. My friends think I'm crazy building a house to fit around a car...I know you guys understand.
Tom
60 Crown 4dr Southampton
----- Original Message ----- From: "Hugh, 58 Imperial" <imperial58@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, September 10, 2007 2:12 PM
Subject: IML: Imperial love / hate relationship

> In the vein of Laurie's recent contribution, let me just say that bringing > "my" 58 into the family was never a deal breaker but it has caused some > intense emotional responses along the way. First thing worth saying is > the car does not belong to me. It is owned by a museum. I used to be the > chairman of the board and am now it's manager, part-time, badly paid but > loving it. I fell for the 58 hard. After a long time working on it at > the museum, it became runnable enough to bring it home, which at that time > was an apartment. I never wanted to own a house, but my wife did, and my > way in was a garage for the 58. I turned down several house because the > car would not fit into the garage or the entrance was too awkward. > Anyhoo, soon enough we found a place when the car could squeeze in with > inches to spare on each side, and almost none fore and aft. The funny > thing is that the house and the car are contemporary to each other and all > cars were pretty big back then but ther e you have it.
>
> My daughter, now 13, loved the car from the get go, especially being > picked from school in it. I'd let her sit on the arm rest in the middle > of the back seat with a wee strap to keep her in place. Twas she who > named it Mrs. Blueberry. My best compliment on the name came from a real > head turner female member of my local Mopar club who said it took a real > man to have the guts to call his car Mrs. Blueberry and introduce it as > such to anyone and everyone. I hadn't thought of it that way until then > but was happy to be given the idea and the ego stroke. However, my wide > hated the car, completely and resolutely. She referred to it as my girl > friend. When people phoned she'd say, "Oh, he's under his girl friend, > let me get him for you." My boss called once and that took more than a > little explaining.
>
> Anyhoo, things changed when she started riding in it. Folks would go nuts > as we drove along. Hooting, hollering, waving, big thumbs up, honking, > the whole tilt. Funnily enough, I hardly noticed. I've been in so many > parades and other events over the last fifteen years, I just don't see it > anymore. But my wife loved the attention. She waves back and does the > whole happy owner thing. The fact that spending money on the car counts > as a donation to a registered charity and gets us tax breaks doesn't hurt > either. Now she wants me to get the car painted so it won't be so > embarrassing to be seen with it. From pull back to push forward. I'll > take it.
>
> Another sweet response came when my parents came to stay. My father hated > the car. It represented to him, the stolid Englishman, the worst excesses > of Americana. Loud, large, and a waste of the earth's precious and scarce > resources. Not my mother though, she was happier than my daughter. Sat > there in the back seat doing the royal wave like she was born to it. She > thought the time I spent polishing a newly acquired set of 67/68 hub caps, > which go so well with the 58's grill, if you happen to have 15 inch wheels > on your 58 and not the original 14s, was total madness. She said she > wished I'd spent so much time on my studies. Now the drop-out has written > and had published one book and is working on another. I'm desperate to > get the Imperial onto the cover. Time and money, as ever, are the > problems. And so it goes.
>
> Hugh
>
>
> ----------------- http://www.imperialclub.com -----------------
> This message was sent to you by the Imperial Mailing List. Please reply to > mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx and your response will be shared with > everyone. Private messages (and attachments) for the
> Administrators should be sent to iml.webmonster@xxxxxxxxx
> To UN-SUBSCRIBE, go to http://imperialclub.com/unsubscribe.htm
----------------- http://www.imperialclub.com -----------------
This message was sent to you by the Imperial Mailing List. Please reply to mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx and your response will be shared with everyone. Private messages (and attachments) for the
Administrators should be sent to iml.webmonster@xxxxxxxxx
To UN-SUBSCRIBE, go to http://imperialclub.com/unsubscribe.htm