Its a girl!

Its a girl!!!

Yesterday morning, shortly after posting my "Expectant father" entry, I got the call from the 'stork' letting me know he was nearby. He confirmed the delivery location with me and said he'd call me back after he'd unstrapped my baby and unloaded her from the trailer.

A few minutes later he let me know she was ready to go home with her proud Papa, so I walked the 3 blocks and saw her sitting peacefully in the parking lot. I smiled immediately, and I think I saw her 'wink' at me!

How did this all come about, you may be wondering. I'm glad you asked!

Ever since I was a boy I have loved cars. Not from the performance standpoint. I could care less what size engine its got. To me its always been all about the aesthetics.

Every since I can remember I have loved Cadillacs. They were always my favorite at the car shows. They always seemed more luxurious than 'regular cars'. Without argument, the most iconic Cadillac ever is the 1959. That year the tail fins reached their highest, and were adorned with dual 'torpedo' tail lights. Later models also had tail fins, but each year the tail fins got shorter, and Cadillac never repeated the 'torpedo' tail lights.

So when I got serious about looking for a vintage car, there really was only 1 choice for me: a 1959 Cadillac.

Initially I began looking for cars in the classifieds section on the Hemmings website. At any given time there are 10,000 or more cars for sale, so its a great place to view photos and do your pricing homework. Unfortunately I wasn't able to find the right car for me (ie: right year, right condition, right price), so I began looking on ebay. I 'watched' several vehicles for a few days and decided to bid on this one, and I won it. The color is called 'Vegas Turquoise'. So gay!

This car has a bit of an interesting story. It was purchased on 12/19/59 by a 41 year old man. I know his age because the title gave me his name and address, which I looked up on Zabasearch, and got his date of birth. If he were alive today he'd be 90 years old. So now I'm becoming obsessed with finding info about the one and only previous owner of my baby.

I've decided to call her Big Ella. My family has always named their cars (Bessie, The Big Blue Beast, The Tank, etc.) and I have named a few of my cars. Years ago I had a 1982 Accord which I named VaRhonda the Honda. Later I had a 1978 VW Super Beetle convertible I named Jazzy Bug. Spouse came up with the name Big Ella in tribute to the large size of the car and my absolute favorite female vocalist of all time, Ella Fitzgerald. So this may have a bearing on the license plate I choose, but don't let that stop you from voting in the poll.

After bringing Big Ella home I called and purchased a special 'antique/collector car' insurance policy, which was much less expensive than I would have thought. Then I made an appointment for her at the 'doctor' for an overall check-up. Since she was only driven occasionally and retains all her original parts, I'm sure she'll need a little freshening up. Then she'll be ready for inspection and registration.

Already the neighbors and passersby have commented on the new addition to our happy family. Spouse was a great sport to agree to this, but I think he really sees how happy this has made me. The realization of a childhood dream tends to do that to a person.

Crush du Jour: Chris Kramer