A Carnival of Wheels
By
Gerry Niskern
How many sets of wheels have you owned? Have you ever counted up the number? I think ours numbered 27, but I’m sure there were more.
Actually, the first set of wheels I was invited to ride on was a super deluxe Schwinn bike. I rode on the crossbar to a Girl Scout square dance. I was thirteen and he was fourteen.
Years later, we honeymooned in a black Ford coupe. Then we bought a brand new black Ford two door sedan. Immediately after we made the last payment he wanted to trade it in for a black and red Ford, a year older! “But honey, it’s unique. No one has one like it,” was the argument. “Absolutely not,” I replied. But that’s when I should have realized I had married a car collector.
We traded the black Ford in for a Ford gold and white Fairlane for me and he had a Ford truck to match. Couple of years later we bought a new Ford Station Wagon. Later we moved to California and I found myself driving a Morris Minor with a stick shift on the freeways. Don’t ask me how it happened, but I did insist that there be a separate bank account to handle the never ending carnival of cars.
Next was a 64 Ford Mustang convertible. We owned another one in 67. Just to name a few, we owned a turquoise Ford Galaxy, a 66 yellow Plymouth. (All three kids learned to drive in that one) There was blue Karmann Gia and a red Sun Beam Tiger. (one two year old grandson used to grab a wrench and slide under the little convertible to “fix it”.)
Another unique purchase was a 59 Mercury Cougar XR7.(one of only 53 made and now very collectible!) I can’t begin to name them all in order. We owned more than one Rover, a Ford van, a gold P 1800, a Cadillac Coupe de Ville, a Dodge Caravan that I drove for 16 years. (all I wanted was something that I could count on to get me there!) After that I made my first vehicle purchase with my own money, a Buick Riveria convertible; white with gold trim and red leather interior. (I drove my little granddaughter and three friends to plays at the Children’s theatre for several years.)
Then in 2006, we both bought our last new cars. Mine was a white Honda CRV that I love to this day and his was a silver Toyota Matrix. (He wanted the Matrix to go to our great-grandson. It carried him thru his last year at NAU, four years at medical school, and on to his Residency in Kentucky.)
Looking back I was sorry that I didn’t share my “collector’s” love of cars. But, I do have to say that nothing was a much fun as that first ride on those wheels of the Schwinn bike.