This local story goes back a long way! I spoke with a gentleman named Jerry who grew up in Detroit back in the 1950's. He purchased his second car, a 1955 Chevy 210, when he was a senior in high school. He was the class of 1958 and had just recently moved into the Farmington Hills School District.
"My claim to fame was my car. Jerry said proudly. It had been customized and was hot!" He had saved up and used his own money to buy this Chevy. It was his second car, but it was his first (as he put it) "romantic" car.
Jerry had his pride and joy custom painted purple with sparkles. He said he chose this color so he would stand out when he was cruising.
For all you classic car lovers out there, here are some of it's specs: It had dual exhaust with flow master mufflers, a beefed up transmission and a truck clutch (for more grab on the road).
His sound system had a reverberator. For those of you who don't know what a reverberator is (I didn't!), Jerry explained it to me this way, "The sound coming out of the radio in the front of the car is delayed by a millisecond before the sound comes out of the back speakers, creating a stereo sound without a stereo system."
Jerry also had a process called "leading" done. This is where all the ornaments are taken off and the holes are filled with melted lead, giving the car a very clean look.
Being that Jerry was from Detroit, he wasn't exactly welcomed by the "in crowd" at his new high school. "I liked to mess with the locals since I was a city boy" he chuckled.
His car was a way to break the ice with his classmates. Here is a story he shared with me about what took place during a lunch hour one day during his senior year of high school.
A student who had a 1951 Ford challenged Jerry to a race. "What the heck! Something to do on your lunch hour right?" Jerry said.
Well, as it turns out the stretch of road from Orchard Lake to Shiawassee (the road the high school was on) measured about a 1/4 mile. Jerry and the other student met on Orchard Lake Road for the start, taking up both lanes of the highway. The signal was given and off they went! "Of course, I won, Jerry stated smugly. "I knew I could beat him even though he had an eight cylinder and I only had a six cylinder, because six cylinders are quicker off the line."
Jerry's principal caught wind of the drag race the following day and he was suspended for two days! His mother wasn't very happy about the suspension and took Jerry's car away for a week! "Unfortunately, I really didn't learn much of a lesson from the whole experience, because I had a love affair with cars that couldn't be tempered by any restrictions, although I never raced in front of school again!"
Since 1958, Jerry's "love affair with cars" has continued throughout the years...he has had over 40 since his 1955 Chevy 210!
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