Buried Treasure

There were 45 years' worth of registration stickers on that plate. I pulled of most off them in one big chunk. Then I scraped down to this. I decided to leave that be. I think it's the 1965 sticker as well as part of the 1966 sticker. To see something like that takes your breath away.

Tomorrow, the car goes to the mechanic. I know the radiator is leaking. God knows what else might be going on under the hood. Nonetheless, the car is in great shape. It's definitely a land yacht. And I'm used to those. I grew up driving gigantic Cadillacs. My mom had a thing for them. Imagine learning how to drive on a Mercury Monarch, but then having to take your driver's test on a full-sized Caddy. I passed the test, but just barely.

Decades later, getting behind the wheel of this much steel was not at all intimidating. I grew up in these big boats. My earliest memory of a car was sitting in the backseat of our massive Mercury Monterey. Since I'm an only child, I didn't have to share that seat with anyone else. I would sit back there all by myself. I just remember it feeling like I was sitting in a room of one's own. There was so much space back there that I felt like I was in some room sitting on a couch all by my lonesome. It was a curious feeling. Perhaps it's what stayed with me throughout my life and fostered my love of old cars.

Let's just hope the mechanic doesn't find anything horribly wrong. He probably won't. The issue, I think, will be in getting parts quickly. Nonetheless, I have no regrets. She is awesome!