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Cool Rides: Ready for the Road

December 10, 2007|BRENDA S. EDWARDS

JUNCTION CITY - It was the color purple that attracted Don Reed to the 1946 Chevrolet truck parked in his garage on West Shelby Street.

His 19-year-old niece saw the purple and gray truck at a Somerset cruise-in. "She had a fit over it," he said.

He took a look and decided to purchase it.

"I get to drive it and shine it," Reed said. "But it actually it's hers," he said of his partner, Pattie Wilson, who happily agreed to pose for a picture with the truck.

Reed has fixed up seven cars and trucks that he either traded or sold. This one was totally refurbished and ready for the road. "It looked like that when I bought it," said Reed.

It has air-conditioning, power steering and an automatic transmission.

"You're looking at about $30,000," he said when asked about the cost of the truck. "They guy I bought it from said the truck won in every show he entered."

Reed and Wilson have been in the garage and wrecker service about 15 years. Wilson runs the wrecker, plugs tires and is a lot of help, according to Reed.

Their garage looks like something out of the 1950s where folks sit around the table, have a Coca-Cola, and discuss old cars. It has two juke boxes, Elvis Presley photographs, pictures of antique vehicles and a mannequin dressed in a poodle skirt and sweater.

Reed gets a kick out of collecting antique vehicles and talking about them.

"It's fun and something to do. We like the cruise-ins and talking with friends," he said.

"I like to see the cars. I like to polish and wax them," Reed said. "That's about all they're good for."

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