I've just got to share this!!!

[BRENT in 10-uh-C]

Talk about being on Cloud 9!!!

This story starts back in 1968 when I was in the 3rd grade at Red Bluff Elementary School in Pasadena, Texas. My teacher's name was Mrs. Presswood and one day during class I told her that I liked Model-As. She told me her husband also liked Model-A's. I asked her if he had "some too" (...our family had several and I was naive enough to believe other folks owned several Model-As too) and her reply was "No, ...he just likes them." Since my Dad was a member of both MARC & MAFCA, each month we received a club magazine in the mail plus the Houston club's newsletter. Every month I would religiously take the magazines & newsletter to school after my Dad was finished reading them so Mrs. Presswood could take them home for her husband to read.

Several years later, I heard that Mr. Presswood finally purchased a Model-A and joined the Houston club. Somewhere around 1978 (about the time I graduated high school) there was a fateful day when the Presswoods were participating in the driving events with the Houston club when Mrs. Presswood who was driving her husband's beloved 1931 Slant-windshield Sedan accidently missed 2nd gear. Sadly the outcome was fatal as the transmission was broken. The way I hear it is first Mr. Presswood was very upset with Mrs. Presswood, and then just sad about the entire situation. On that terrible day, the Sedan was loaded on a trailer and transported to the Presswood home where it would sit idly for years only to see the light of day when the Presswoods moved to a new house. Now just like the previous years, the Sedan again sat in the new location totaling about 35 years all together.

Now the year is 2012 and Mrs. Presswood is tired of sweeping out the garage around the broken Sedan so she firmly gives her husband an ultimatum that he either must sell the car, --or fix it. After he gave some thought he made a few phone calls to find out how to contact one of my mentors, Bill Coleman to see if he would repair the transmission. After the Presswoods traveled to the Model-A Poor Boy tour, they spoke with Bill who told them he now was retired from doing restoration work. They asked could he or anyone else recommend someone else. Evidently my name came up. Mrs. Presswood thought that name sounded familiar to her but dismissed it when they heard I was in Tennessee. None the less, they went home and searched my name.

A couple weeks later I received a phone call one afternoon from a man that started off telling me his father had Model-A that had a broken transmission and would I be interested in fixing it. I said Yes and then he followed up by telling me the same story I just told to you. At the end of the conversation, he then said "My mother thinks she may know you." He then told me his mother's name ....and I about fell over!! I told him "YES YES I REMEMBER HER!!" Ohh but then my life as an 8-year old kid (who I could have been the 'poster child' for A.D.D. if the doctors knew what that was back then!! ) started flashing through my mind! To say I was nervous as we began exchanging e-mails would be an understatement but she was just as sweet as I remembered her, ...and the best thing was she didn't hold any grudges from 1968!!

Well soon thereafter Mr. Presswood called and we started talking about his Sedan. He told me how he found the car which was a low mileage car that came from Brenham, TX originally. The original upholstery was in the car but it had been repainted before he purchased it. As we talked he explained that he purchased all new gears many years ago with the plans to rebuild the transmission however circumstances just never worked out. Somewhere along the way his mother (an accomplished artist) painted a picture of his car in his favorite combination of Copra & Chicle and gave it to him. The more we talked, the more you could tell he was getting excited. We discussed could I also check out the brakes, and maybe the engine. I said Sure and then he asked if it could be repainted. Again, we could do that for him too. Several e-mails exchanged before he finally told me he had always been apprehensive about doing anything to the car, but he felt the timing was right to get the car semi-restored where they could start participating with the Model-A club again.

Well, yesterday the Presswoods finally made their trip from Texas, ...not only bringing the Sedan but their daughter and their grandchildren along with Mr. Presswood's sister. When they all arrived, it was absolute jubilee around here. I was excited, they were excited, my employees were in amazement, -and my wife was asking for details from 1968, ...so it was totally WILD and AWESOME all at the same time!! One of my employees even asked me later was she a good teacher. I said Heck Yeah, she promoted me to the 4th grade!!

You know, in life it is the simple things that bring so much enjoyment. In my line of work, we meet many people that we have the privilege to bring joy to them by fulfilling their dreams, and often times we get to hear how a car is special to them because a family member once owned it, or how the car played an earlier part in their life. To me, this Sedan opens a chapter of my life and reunites an influential person who I had not seen in some 45 years. What an honor this will be to be able to give a piece of "me" back to a person and her husband who gave something to me. Like I said earlier, talk about being on Cloud 9!! Now tonite Pennie & I are taking them to dinner to "catch up". I can hardly wait!!




1st Picture: My 3rd grade teacher Mrs. Presswood sitting on the back of the trailer as I receive instructions from Mr. Presswood.
2nd Picture: A very solid Sedan
3rd Picture: Preparing to unload the car.
...more pix to come!!

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