Sunday, February 24, 2008

Why Did We Ever Sell This Car: Part 1

This is my Mother sitting on the front fender of a 1939 0r 1940 Ford Fodor Woody Station Wagon in the summer of 194 something.
My Grandfather liked Budweiser in long neck bottles. There is a distinct taste to that brand of beer in long neck bottles. My son-in-law is a Bud drinker. Note I said Bud drinker. My Grandfather always called the beer by its correct name: Budweiser. "Jimmy", he'd say, "Go get me another Budweiser." Some of my best memories are sitting on a metal glider at the "B'S NEST*", the cabin on the Big River at House Springs, MO, on warm summer nights, listening to St. Louis Cardinal baseball from KMOX radio while my Grandfather drank Budweiser and I drank Pepsi. That's how I learned baseball. I'll have go to Pricecutter's tomorrow (our Pricecutter still sells beer) and get a six pack of Budweiser in 12 oz bottles and drink a toast to his memory.

Mom didn't remember how the left front fender got scraped, only that she didn't do it. She didn't remember the year either, only that it was during the war and she was about 15 years old. She was born in 1928, so it could have been in 1943 when the photo was taken. Looking the bald front tire and how hard tires were to obtain during the war, that date is probably reasonably correct.
This car today, in the same condition as in the photo, would be worth how much at a well advertised auction? (Can you tell I watch "Antiques Roadshow"?).

*When my Grandparents got so old they could no longer keep up the cabin, my two little brothers, John and Ed, and I went out there for one last look around. I took down the sign and kept it. Years later when we bought one of the original Merriam cabins in Rockaway Beach (Brookside Bungalows), we hauled out the old sign and put it on our cabin. The man who owned the cabin next to the original B'S NEST, his name was Wolfe. He named his cabin "Wolfe's Den". My Grandparents last name was Bansbach. Now you know the story of how the "B'S NEST" got it's name.

1 comment:

Dennis M said...

Definitely a 1940 Ford Deluxe woody