Special Birthday Surprise

AN EARLY 75th  BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION FOR ME,

 plus the 48th ANNIVERSARY  of our GTO !

Back in late August 1969, I was 26 years old  and was driving our
brand new GTO out of the car dealership for the first time.
  (The 1970 models were soon to appear in showrooms in the US)

The year 2017 would have seemed so far into the future 
that it wouldn't even have computed in my brain,
Yet, here we are  in August of 2017!
Those 48 years have gone by in a flash!
 

 

GOING DOWN MEMORY LANE IN OUR GTO !!

I have two brothers, Dave and Bob, who are a lot younger than I am (in fact nine and eighteen years younger - They were ages 18 and 8 when I bought the GTO and of course grew up with the GTO. also. 

They are now, in 2017, 66 and 56 years old and are grandparents, which is difficult for me to wrap my head around.

My brothers and our cousin Mark surprised me with a special pre-birthday event (actual date is in November) by going to dinner and dessert with our wives to two iconic 'drive-in' spots in our area, and my brothers insisted on taking turns driving the GTO, since they have only done so a few times over the years.   [Our cousin is o the GTO's chief mechanic and problem solver and has driven it many times.]

 It was decided that the wives would drove their normal cars and meet up with us. 

 

The weather was cooperative, and the convertible top was still down from a car show the day before (see previous post).    

 

 

 

My brother Bob took this great photo of the Endura bumper, which was given a new coat of paint by our cousin in 2009.  It's a perfect match to the Mayfair Maize color.  He removed the bumper (no easy task), painted it (took several days)  and obviously put it back in place  - perfectly.   The original paint had been chipped here and there, and this renovation made a big difference to the appearance of the car.

 I'm so fortunate that my GTO is still in good shape after 48 years, but I can't take full credit, as my cousin's considerable mechanical skills (and painting skills)  and knowledge of automobiles, plus his great advice, has been invaluable in keeping it 'on the road'   I forgot to mention that he also replaced the carburetor,!  How lucky for me  that I didn't need to search high and low for someone who had that skill.  

FIRST STOP - THE CURBSIDE SERVICE DINER

At the first location, we ordered dinner - to be brought to our cars.  In fact, you can eat only in your car.  The curb service 'diner' building is used only for preparing the food, even though they enlarged it in 2004 (done up in retro '50s style with lots of 'chrome').  It still is used only for the preparation of the food, so you have to eat in the car! 

They serve a variety of sandwiches, hamburgers and salads, plus freshly made, and their famous French fries.   

The orders are taken  by a gal who comes to your car  (as always), but instead of a notebook, these days she enters your food choices into an electronic tablet, and the order is received instantly by the kitchen staff.  Then before you know it, the server is bringing your food on a tray that she carefully attaches to your car window.  

My wife and I have been coming to this establishment for at least 40 years, and countless times in the GTO.  But we haven't been there lately, partly because of the caloric counts of the food!  (In the old days, we could eat whatever we wanted!)  

This establishment is located in an area where there are frequent car cruises, so after the cruises the classic cars always head here, and it really is like stepping back in time.   Usually there are some classic cars there on Friday nights and weekends.   However, this was a Monday night, and the GTO was the only classic car there.

SECOND STOP - FROZEN CUSTARD !

After eating our excellent dinner, we all headed to a frozen custard 'stand' about a mile away, which also dates back to about 1947, but the small building  has now expanded to a huge building - also on the same spot.  And over the years they've added picnic benches in the parking area, plus a special picnic area with a covered roof, which is where we all enjoyed our dessert and had our own 'party'.

Their original recipe for the creamiest frozen custard on the planet keeps generations of families coming there year after year.   The building was only one-third this size when we were young!  Quite a success story, well deserved.

 

It was great to celebrate my milestone birthday with family and friends!  And I have the satisfaction of knowing that my real birthday is still a few months away!