Long trip home ......
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2nd Gear Member
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 499
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Long trip home ......
Well, I took the old girl home yesterday.
Most of you have heard the story about how I came to know this car. A good family friend bought her new and took this wide eyed 10 year old for a ride down to the little country store for a Coke. I remember him banging the gears and the Cleveland screaming like it was yesterday. I was hooked. In retrospect, I didn't realize that these cars were built during the waning years of the performance car heyday. The fastest thing I'd ever been in was my mom's 428 powered 65 ? Catalina. This Mustang sure seemed faster and looked a lot cooler than mom's Pontiac 4 door. At the ripe old age of 10, I didn't know much about fast anyway.
We lived in the backwoods of Madison County , Arkansas just outside a town called Marble. Our friend who bought the car new was a man named Nevin Critten. Nevin was a mountain of a man who stood about 6'6" and weighed over 300 pounds. I still don't know how he got in and out of this car as easily as he did. Nevinlost his lifein a truck wreck over a decade ago and when I set about restoring this old pony, I did it with him in mind. The original leather wrapped steering wheel was left unrestored as my way of remembering him every time I take her out for a spin.
The store was Logan Owens' General Store. I grew up in that old store and there was never a trip to town that my Grandfather didn't buy me a box of Cracker Jacks at Owens' General Store. It was a routine for he and I and after we'd loaded the feed for the livestock , there was always a boxof Cracker Jacks on the bill. It's been 34 years to the month since I took that addicting ride in this very car and it had been at least 25 years since this old girl sat in the parking lot of Owens' Store... until yesterday.
I drove over to a car show North and East of Marble and decided to drive back the long way, just so I could make the trip down memory lane. As I got close to town my heart picked up a bit and my hands kind of got sweaty. I pulled off of the highway at the store and just sat there for a moment. It hadn't changed much really. It's a vacant building now as Mr Owens passed away many years ago, butit mostlystill looks the same. There on the east side was the basketball court I'd played on as a kid, even though the pole sure seems to lean after all these years. The Coke signs are gone but you can plainly see where they were , and if you look close you can see Owens' name on the sign. Man did seeing this old car in front of that old store bring back memorys ? I guess we all wish we could go back in time to our youth. I know I sure felt like I had for a moment.
At the show I was approached by the owner of an 07 Shelby GT500. He was full of questions aboutRSRXION and asked about her history. I told him the short version of the story and he looked through the paperwork and photos of the last 30 + years. When he finished with the album, he laid it down and asked " So it's not going to do me any good to offer you a ridiculous sum of money for this car ? " I quickly and politely responded " No" explaining that you can't put a price on sentiment. Besides if the next 34 years together is half aseventful as the first 34 , I'm in for a hell of a ride !
At any rate, here's a few photos of RSRXION on her maiden voyage home to my ( and her ) childhood stomping grounds. I've got a lot of fond memories tied up in that old building and I've got a lot of priceless memories invested in this old car.This little Mustang and I have grown up together and I'm confident we'll grow old together as well. I think it did us both a lot of good to go back to Marbleand I hope Nevin is proud of what we've both become. I'm sure he's looking down on us and smiling from ear to ear.
Dean
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[IMG]local://upfiles/26494/4019D89F18FA49789CAA2603503E5AA5.jpg[/IMG]
Most of you have heard the story about how I came to know this car. A good family friend bought her new and took this wide eyed 10 year old for a ride down to the little country store for a Coke. I remember him banging the gears and the Cleveland screaming like it was yesterday. I was hooked. In retrospect, I didn't realize that these cars were built during the waning years of the performance car heyday. The fastest thing I'd ever been in was my mom's 428 powered 65 ? Catalina. This Mustang sure seemed faster and looked a lot cooler than mom's Pontiac 4 door. At the ripe old age of 10, I didn't know much about fast anyway.
We lived in the backwoods of Madison County , Arkansas just outside a town called Marble. Our friend who bought the car new was a man named Nevin Critten. Nevin was a mountain of a man who stood about 6'6" and weighed over 300 pounds. I still don't know how he got in and out of this car as easily as he did. Nevinlost his lifein a truck wreck over a decade ago and when I set about restoring this old pony, I did it with him in mind. The original leather wrapped steering wheel was left unrestored as my way of remembering him every time I take her out for a spin.
The store was Logan Owens' General Store. I grew up in that old store and there was never a trip to town that my Grandfather didn't buy me a box of Cracker Jacks at Owens' General Store. It was a routine for he and I and after we'd loaded the feed for the livestock , there was always a boxof Cracker Jacks on the bill. It's been 34 years to the month since I took that addicting ride in this very car and it had been at least 25 years since this old girl sat in the parking lot of Owens' Store... until yesterday.
I drove over to a car show North and East of Marble and decided to drive back the long way, just so I could make the trip down memory lane. As I got close to town my heart picked up a bit and my hands kind of got sweaty. I pulled off of the highway at the store and just sat there for a moment. It hadn't changed much really. It's a vacant building now as Mr Owens passed away many years ago, butit mostlystill looks the same. There on the east side was the basketball court I'd played on as a kid, even though the pole sure seems to lean after all these years. The Coke signs are gone but you can plainly see where they were , and if you look close you can see Owens' name on the sign. Man did seeing this old car in front of that old store bring back memorys ? I guess we all wish we could go back in time to our youth. I know I sure felt like I had for a moment.
At the show I was approached by the owner of an 07 Shelby GT500. He was full of questions aboutRSRXION and asked about her history. I told him the short version of the story and he looked through the paperwork and photos of the last 30 + years. When he finished with the album, he laid it down and asked " So it's not going to do me any good to offer you a ridiculous sum of money for this car ? " I quickly and politely responded " No" explaining that you can't put a price on sentiment. Besides if the next 34 years together is half aseventful as the first 34 , I'm in for a hell of a ride !
At any rate, here's a few photos of RSRXION on her maiden voyage home to my ( and her ) childhood stomping grounds. I've got a lot of fond memories tied up in that old building and I've got a lot of priceless memories invested in this old car.This little Mustang and I have grown up together and I'm confident we'll grow old together as well. I think it did us both a lot of good to go back to Marbleand I hope Nevin is proud of what we've both become. I'm sure he's looking down on us and smiling from ear to ear.
Dean
[IMG]local://upfiles/26494/FA33E459BE76435091F43DF35623CCBE.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]local://upfiles/26494/DFB37BCD53F742F9B8770FA4AF39523E.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]local://upfiles/26494/73CB9BF3054D48A9AA86CEBDCF106E75.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]local://upfiles/26494/4019D89F18FA49789CAA2603503E5AA5.jpg[/IMG]
Thread Starter
2nd Gear Member
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 499
From:
RE: Long trip home ......
Thanks for the kind words guys. It's hard to believe that we can become so attached to an inanimate object, but we do. No other worldly possession means as much to me as this old girl does. Now, if I could just buy back my old Torino Cobra .....
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