Yester Years..........we can reminisce about our   first car, or with an  article we read in a newspaper or magazine or perhaps in a car club's newsletter.
   It just happened that I ran across an article in the "Staten Island AUTO Echoes" written by Larry Farrell.
   Who, by the way, just became president of the club,  for the year 2000.  He's second time.  First time happened in 1977.
  The article appeared in April 1979.

KEEP ON LOOKING'
Don't despair, there are still
some good ones out there,
just over the next hill.

       Rainy, dreary, lazy Sundays in October usually makes my wife, Kathy very uneasy.  She knows that since the weatherman has decided to confine us indoors, most of my morning will be spent reading the newspapers.  Newspaers carry news, but most important, they also carry a classified section entitled,  "Automobiles for Sale."
         Since Sundays bring us both the Staten Island Advance, and the New York Times, you know I will be occupied for at least two hours.  As Kathy reminds me, "you already have enough cars," and I reply, "just looking honey, don't get upset," I turn to my favorite section.  If you are a fanatic like I am, you read every thing listed from A to Z for fear of missing that "sleeper" we always dream about.
         On this particular day, I chose to start with the Advance over the Times, and  began my reading.   Halfway through the alphabet past the M's, and into the P's, I spotted and ad that aroused my interest,   "1940 Pontiac, 14,000 miles" with a phone number. It sounded interesting, but a 14 K mile anything is probably out of my price range.  So I pass it by reading the rest of the ads.  Nothing else catches my fancy, but that Pontiac is still dancing in my mind. What  the heck, I'll call, nothing to lose!   The gentle- man on the phone sounds somewhat upset, and very uneasy, but gives me his address.  As I go out the door, Kathy asks, "where are you going"?  With  a smile on my face, and an umbrella in my  hand I tell her, I'll be back shortly, leaving her to mumble something under her breath as she goes into the kitchen.

        When I arrive at the address, and meet the owner, he explains his nervousness.  Seems his wife just gave birth to twins six weeks early.  The car was in the paper, his wife was in the hospital, and the phone never stopped ringing, and he was ready to jump out the window.  He says to me that he doesn't have time to waste.  He will show me the car only if I really am interested in it.  My first question , and maybe my last one is how much is it?  His reply is look at the car, and we will talk price as he has to sell it now.  His mind was definitely elsewhere, he could care less about this car.  In the garage was a 1940 Pontiac in very good condition which when I saw it I knew I wanted it.  We agreed on a price but since it was only two days before payday all we exchanged at the time was a handshake.
       Two days later I saw the owner again with a deposit.   he said his wife and children were fine, and now that he thinks about it he gave that car away.  I smiled, and he laughed, but now I own a 1940 Pontiac.
        An added note.  The owner was a fireman, and we arranged full payment at the firehouse.  When I got there, he was just getting on the truck responding to a fire.  Seeing me he yelled "follow me."   I did follow him, and during a fire in a Laundromat with flames, and water all over, and soap suds up to my ankles we exchanged money, and paper work.

Larry Farrell