These Old Car People are surely an interesting lot

It’s another wet, gloomy day and I’m trying to get some housework done before I settle down with my book. I was thinking about the past weekend and the VAE meet in Bradford. What a great bunch of folks there are in the car club and how lucky I am to know them. In the 1950s, when I met Gael, he was driving an old Packard roadster. My father loved it, and I banged my shin on the bumper and had quite a bruise, wondering who this kid was. He had just graduated from high school, and I was still a student. 

Well, fast forward a few years and I found myself meeting more of these old car people. We went to the VAE meetings at the Lincoln Inn in Essex, and I became good friends with many of these old car people. One of the first that I met was Peveril Peake. He had an old VW, and I spent more than a few hours in the back seat while Pev and Gael would chase after some old car. Mahlon Teachout showed up at our door a few weeks after we were married, and I then became an old car widow. They bought a firetruck in St. Albans and spent a fair amount of time turning it into a speedster. I remember taking it to the Stowe Car Show that year (1960). And so, my old car life started. We had some wonderful friends; most of them are gone now. Rod and Emily Rice, Cena and Rod Galbraith, Willis and Shirley Spaulding, Avery Hall, Bob Jones, Clark Wright, to name a few. They are the ones that quickly come to mind. Then came Steve Dana, who showed up at our house one day with a raccoon on his shoulder. I thought to myself, these old car people are surely an interesting lot. 

When we moved to Underhill in 1961, we moved with a 1927 Federal truck and Gael’s Willys Knight, his 1934 Chevrolet, the firetruck speedster and probably more, but I don’t remember. It was all a blur. I was having my hands full with our growing family, an old house, veggie garden, etc. Pev was still in the picture and the kids called him Uncle Pevvie. He spent many a Christmas with us and occasionally would stay overnight. His snoring kept everyone awake. My one and only trip to John Hawkinson’s place in NY was in the back of Pev’s VW. My only trip to Lloyd Davis’ house, I waited in the car while Gael went inside. He was just going to be a minute. Hah! Mahlon Teachout was still living in the area, and then Joe Kaelin became a familiar face. We never missed a car show although we didn’t always have a car that was roadworthy. One meet at the Essex fairgrounds, the club was invited to take their cars around the track. Big mistake. Gael and Mahlon took the speedster on the track and tore it up enough so they were asked to leave. 

Again, fast forward a few years and we met some new folks: the Fiskes, the Nobles, the Gonets, to name a few. All became some of our closest friends. Cousin Hal was a frequent visitor too. As I get older, I am realizing how important friends are in one’s life, and I am so grateful that the VAE is still going strong and that I can still be a part of it.