The Baby Blue Ford
It was glorious. I couldn’t believe it was for sale, a baby blue 1964 Ford Galaxy 500 with a 328 cubic inch motor in it, that runs. I stood there shaking my head thinking I’ve $3.25 in the bank and $5.36 available credit and the owner wants $4,000 for it. It was just like the car my late mother tried to teach me to drive in and what she drove to work everyday.
This car is styled so differently than today’s models. Basically it’s a big box with four headlights in the front, four taillights in the back and four doors in the middle. This car is also made of metal, not plastic. If you tapped any small car of today with the Galaxy 500 it would total the new car and not even scratch the Galaxy.
I walked around it thinking about the first time I drove my mom’s car. She was going to an old back road she knew and taught me how to drive. I didn’t tell her I’d been driving my uncle’s old car and that he let me drive him to town sometimes.
We got to the road and I sized up the situation while we swapped seats, there were two cars, two garbage cans and two mailboxes to match. I fastened my seat belt and the fun began.
“All right Michael take the gearshift and put into drive. Now go down to the end of the road, turn around and come back,” my mother quietly said. I stomped on the gas and my mother screamed “Oh you’re too close to the cars. Now you’re too close to the mailboxes. Look out for the garbage cans OH MICHAEL STOP THE CAR.”. I slammed on the brakes and about threw us through the windshield. I dropped my head like I was upset but I was laughing so hard I had tears coming from my eyes.
While I was walking back to my car I thought out loud “I miss you mom.”.
