I can hear that car horn now coming around the corner in front of my house. Mary had a little lamb, little lamb, its fleece as white as snow. It was a musical car horn on a black chevy station wagon played by Bill Lindsey as he swung into my driveway. Bill was home from Darlington Prep School and it was off to the Hub Grill with Bill and Hamp and Willie Brown. Bill did not have a car as a teenager but his mother put her car at his disposal. When Bill was home we all had a ride and what a ride it was. The Hub Grill then Tom and Sarah's in Rockingham then the Hub again. We burned up gas like there was no tomorrow. It was always a good time when school was out at Darlington. Bills Dad also had a new Rivera and sometimes he would throw Bill the keys to it. Now that was a real ride. In 1963 Buick introduced its answer to the Ford Thunderbird and it was the Buick Riviera. The Riviera was a personal Luxury car with all the bells and whistles. It was fast, it floated down the highway and it was sharp and it was jet black. The interior was black and the air conditioner was ice cold. If GM has ever made a cooler car I don't know about it. I liked it then and I would really love to have it now. In fact I have a 95 Riviera that I would gladly trade for a 63. When both parents needed their cars Bill would sometimes get to drive his grandmothers 55 Buick station wagon. She rarely drove her car over 40 miles and hour but when Bill drove it he blew the carbon out. It too became a collectable car and it probably still does not have 100,000 miles on it today. Rumor has it that cousin Betty James Montgomery has restored the wagon and has it on her farm in Campobello now. Those were the days, we thought they would never end. Willie is now deceased, Bill lives somewhere near Chapel Hill and I saw Hamp at the car show in Hamlet again this year. Hamp has lived in North Carolina and Japan for several years. I wish we could all pile in that old station wagon and drag the Hub one more time.
Thanks to John Bill for bringing back an old memory.
The picture below is Bill & Mark Lindsey Jr. with the family station wagon and the Rivera. We could pile a lot of kids in that station wagon. It was a work horse of a vehicle. The days before the SUV.
Bill and Mark Lindsey 2.jpg (116.15 KiB) Viewed 3480 times
Grandmother James 1955 Buick. Betty James Montgomery has the old car in excellent condition in South Carolina.
Mrs. James 1955 Buick.jpg (134.43 KiB) Viewed 3480 times
Good stuff!! Keep it a comin. My Nana had a Buick Century that looked about like that, only a two door though. Uncle Mike took that thing from Shallotte to O.D. many times!!