Gladys in her First Parade!

Each year my hometown has a huge parade for Labor Day. I haven't been in the parade since I was a little kid and my grandparents wanted me to show off Gladys, so I agreed to drive her in the parade...and convinced my dad to ride with me :) I just got the interior finished up Saturday morning before the parade, so she is all done!!

There is also a small car show on main street before the parade. My mom thought it would be neat to have a little sign showing that Gladys is a 4th generation car. Of course I can't just print a little sign...I had to add my own touch :) 

I was a little nervous driving in the parade with all the people and especially little kids around chasing candy! But having my dad along really helped! And my mom even got a video. Isn't Gladys pretty!!

Gladys' First Car Show

It's been a busy couple of weeks, but the highlight was definitely Gladys' First Car Show! It was so fun getting her out and showing her off! But I will say, it was a lot of work too. Shamee-ing (spelling?) a station wagon takes forever! But it was well worth it :)

And Jesse took our '39 Chevy as well. It was so cool having both cars at the show!

While we didn't win any prizes, we had a great day. I love looking at all the other beautiful cars and talking with other car enthusiasts. It's always fun to tell people how Gladys got her name and how she is a 4th generation family car. You sure don't see many Ramblers around anymore, so she always gets lots of looks!

  

One really cool thing we saw was etched car windows! How cool would it be to put Gladys' name on one of the windows!! Of course the glass has to be taken out and put back in, but it might just happen!

We have some friends that are completely restoring and old Dodge car and don't have glass in it yet. They loved the idea of having their daughter-in-law draw something special and having me etch it on their windows! Who knew these lasers had so many possibilities!

Meet Gladys

Amidst all the holiday craziness, there was a little fun going on behind the scenes for me. Back in September, I took my '63 Rambler Wagon in to be painted. It's something I had talked about doing for quite some time, but the cost always held me back. I finally took the plunge and I couldn't be happier I did!! I finally got her back on Dec. 30th!

 

Meet Gladys!

I decided that after painting her Hot Pink Pearl, that she really needed an official girl name. Since this car belonged to my great grandma (yes, it's a 4th generation car!) that it would be appropriate to name her after my Great-Grandma Gladys.

In April when I get my plates renewed, they will bear her name :)

The first picture above is still in the body shop, with no chrome on yet. My dad and Jesse spent a couple days putting her all back together. The chrome really makes her shine! I can't wait til I can take her outside and get some great shots in the sun. Since it was like 3 degrees yesterday, all you get are garage shots...lol.

I also had both the front and back seats recovered earlier this year as well. Since the painting process took a little longer than planned, they aren't actually in the car yet. (Who doesn't like car seats sitting in their living room?) In the spring, I'll be taking her to get all new carpet and then the new seats can be installed. I'm also still debating new door panels as well.

I'm sure you're not surprised that I choose pink :) And I can guarantee you you won't see another like it! Not only are Ramblers pretty rare, this color of paint is actually quite hard to come by! Who knew no one else wanted a hot pink car :)

Friday Features - Rambler

On Wednesday of this week I finally got out my old Rambler and took her for a drive! She hasn't been out of the garage all year and I had forgotten how fun it is to drive her :) The steering wheel is 4 times the size of cars today, you shift gears on the column (called a 3 on the tree) and I get so many looks from people who appreciate old cars :) My Rambler was my first car when I turned 16. It was my great-grandmother's car and my dad fixed it up and repainted it for me :) I've kept her all these years!

Here is a picture of me with my car on my first day senior year.

I was surprised by the amount of Rambler items on Etsy! It was so fun to look through the old adds and see the cool items made from Rambler parts! Check out what I found...

Rambler Patch Vintage Nash Rambler Badge 10 x 3 inches NOS Sew On

by BlackRockVintage

1963 Rambler Hubcap Wall Clock

 by StarlingInk

Vintage Dinky Toy Nash Rambler 173

by AnniesAtticFinds 

Retro 1964 Rambler Advertisement

by  ecofriendlyfreckles

 (Mine is a '63, but this ad shows the wagon that looks just like mine.)

A Wonderful Weekend

I took a little bloggy break over the weekend and enjoyed time with family and friends. I hope you all had a great weekend too :) Though we didn't get to go visit my parents in Michigan like we had planned, we still had a great time here in Iowa. And what a busy weekend it was!

Friday we worked around the house in the morning then visited Jesse's mom at her new house and had dinner with her and his brother's family that night to celebrate his mom's birthday.

Saturday we headed to Des Moines for a car show and to spend time with Jesse's cousin and his wife. The highlight of the day was seeing a 1964 Rambler Wagon! I have a '63 that I inherited from my great grandma and I've never seen another wagon at any car show I've ever been to! Here is my car (old picture alert!):

Here is the one we saw at the show: And here is the color I wanted mine painted next :)(Hot pink, of course) Sunday started out rainy, but cleared off in time for us to go air boating. We have such a great time on the river! We brought golf balls, clubs, and a baseball bat and had fun making up games :) After the river we celebrated the 4th (early) with a bon fire and some fireworks at Jesse's aunt and uncle's house. Yesterday Jesse went boating again and I stayed home to relax. I had to work last night (Jesse had vacation-lucky duck!). I needed a day to recover from our busy weekend! I hope your weekend was as wonderful as ours :)

Almost Wordless Wednesday-Old Photo Favorites Part 2

Mom (right) and her friend Sandy

First Day Senior Year (1971)

Driving a 1958 Chevy

Me

First Day Senior Year (2000)

Driving a 1963 AMC Rambler