An Oldsmobile story.
By Karen Cochran
It was love at first sight! There she sat in the museum’s foyer all chocolate brown and beautiful. The “ For Sale” sign was perched on the driver’s side dash; its harsh red letters tempting me. Cautiously opening the door (there was no one around to ask permission), I inhaled the first perfume of her soft gray interior….the scent I remembered from my summer vacation times with my grandmother in Arvada, when Arvada was truly country. We would go up and down back roads to buy eggs and other produce while she told stories of her youth. Her merry Oldsmobile was probably a late 1940’s coupe whose interior smelt more like Weimaraner and country garages than nearly pristine clean and sweet Eleanor but the memory was powerful. Lately there had been a lot of talk around our house about restoring an old car…maybe making a street rod. I knew what that meant…two or more years of garage and tools and engines and chrome and long distance calls to far away distributors of hard-to-find parts. We had already given birth to and raised a ’57 Chevy from frame to shining frame.
Here sat Eleanor… I had named her already after my elegant country grandmother. She only needed minor, by comparison, work to be all she could be. The owners of the Durango Grand Motor Car and Piano museum were Packard men. They just couldn’t resist the 1930 Oldsmobile Sport Coupe. But now they were reducing inventory and looking toward retirement. We talked, we laughed, and we listened to some great piano music. And we sealed the deal. Not only was Eleanor one of only sixteen 1930 Sport Coupes still in existence, she was one of only four that had a straight six-cylinder engine. As Tim Allen would say:” More Power!”
The only thing that locks on the car is ironical the golf club door which actually opens into the rumble seat whose lock is long missing. Its okay though so is the key for the golf club door. For someone whose car interest has been,” How much longer are you going to be out there.”? I have learned that she takes six quarts of oil and it has to be non-detergent SAE 30. Also a vintage car like Eleanor does drain easily. Her battery is small and over the course of non-driving winter she needs a charge. Wax on, wax off is fun when you can reach the entire car. I am still learning how to drive her. The throttle and keyless ignition are new to the mostly automatic me but shifting is uncomplicated and she runs like a champion. Her engine isn’t complicated like today’s cars and I really think I may learn a thing or two so she is a perfect companion to retirement.