American Car - November 2015

32 ACM

were in the same State! The car was

owned by Don McElheney, and he lived

in Phoenix, so I drove two and a half

hours through the desert to look at it. I

looked it over, and shook his hand on it

there and then. I didn't leave a deposit,

but fortunately he trusted me to send

him the money when I got home to the

UK, then I arranged a truck to collect it

and trusted him to send the car! I

arranged all the shipping, and it took

10 weeks to get here, including

changing boats in the Panama Canal.

“Don had restored and modi-ied the

car six years ago, including shaving

the door handles, but he hadn't -itted

door poppers – he just left the

windows open. He reckoned that the

car had seen rain maybe a dozen times

in its life... until it got to the UK, of

course. It's still yet to go around the

clock, and I'm hoping Don will be able

to send some of the car's history.

“I drove two and a

half hours

through the desert

to look at it”

That's Ozzie

(below) checking

his "How cool is

your car?" app -

yes, still off the

charts. The

original dash

insert is still in

place (bottom

centre), but the

space that would

have once housed

the gearshift push-

buttons - to the left

of the dash behind

that colour-coded

steering wheel - is

now home to a

small rev counter.

1957 Plymouth Savoy

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