I have to own up to the fact that the sands of time must certainly be running out for me as I anticipate my upcoming 93rd birthday. I was born the year FDR was inaugurated. I imagine some readers of this blog do not recognize the name FDR (don’t be lazy – look it up). He was one of our best Presidents, although he had strong opposition at the time. He was criticized for doing too much social good for the average American population; our current President does not have to worry about that. 2026 will undoubtedly be a wild political year, but that is a discussion outside of my interest for this article. I am going to take a march through time of my automotive history and then take a peek at what lies ahead. I will only focus on some of the more significant rides from my past.
That history starts in 1954, which was the year I graduated from Union College in Schenectady and was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in the USAF. As an “officer and a gentleman” with a college degree, I was able to get a job as night janitor at the Spaulding Bread Company in Binghamton, NY. That job qualified me to get a $500 loan using my mother as co-signer. With that humble start, I was able to buy Wally’s 1940 Ford hot rod with a two speed over drive and launch the start of my automotive adventures. A few months and a girlfriend later, I was called to active service in the Air Force, and the 1940 Ford lasted only until I was assigned to Lowry Air Force Base (AFB) in Denver. It was a good car, lots of fun – perhaps even more fun than the girlfriend! Read all about that non-automotive adventure in chapter two of my book, The Bootlegger ‘40 Ford.
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While a student at Lowry AFB in 1956, I bought a 1950 Oldsmobile Holiday hardtop coupe with a 135hp Rocket 88 engine. It was a very, very good car to go along with the very, very nice Baylor coed I took dancing at Elitch’s Trocadero ballroom.
The 1950 Oldsmobile ran flawlessly from Denver to Dyess AFB in Texas, as well as all over Texas and Louisiana. After driving non-stop from Texas to Binghamton, NY and finally cross country to Fairchild AFB in California, I sold it to a fighter pilot as I left for Tokyo. I just put in points and plugs, no other parts or maintenance.
The 1954 Buick Special that I drove while an engineering student at Cornell was responsible for me meeting a Filipina medical technologist student at Binghamton General Hospital. I was rooming with some Filipino Agricultural School doctoral students who wanted a ride in the Buick to Binghamton to meet some nurses the next time I went to visit my mother, who lived a few blocks away from the hospital. They insisted I come meet the girls. I did and Mother Nature took over – Sara Pecache became Mrs. Charles Clark. Along with my engineering degree came my daughter Victoria Pecache Clark and the end of the 1954 Buick with a broken piston and shot differential to be replaced by a Volkswagen Beetle and a stroller.
The Beetle took the family to Alamogordo, New Mexico, where I was employed as a medical electronic engineer at the Holloman AFB 341st Aero Medical Research Laboratory.
A couple of Olds sedans, a Volvo wagon, plus a straight six step side Ford pickup were acquired as time went on. The big fun was the 4 speed Goodwood green on green 1967 Corvette roadster I bought from a transferring Holloman USAF officer for the price of $1750. It had the 300hp 327ci engine with 17K miles on it.
The New Mexico desert and mountains were the playground for the Corvette roadster. At the local junk yard, I paid $50 for a 1963 Rochester fuel injection engine out of a roadster that failed to stay on a mountain road. After a rebuild of that engine, I sold my 300HP 327 as I now had a 365hp FI engine that really made the Vette run hard and fast. I drove that car regularly and gave it to my daughter on her 32nd birthday. In the seventeen years after I rebuilt the Rochester injection EXACTLY as they specified in the factory repair manual, I never had to touch it again.
The move to Denver in 1974 to my current home saw a 1965 Mustang, 1969 Camaro, and two more mid-year Vettes come and go. The best was a 1965 coupe with an FI engine.
With construction of my six car garage addition, including a service pit, I was able to conduct serious body off total restorations. With the acquisition of a milling machine from California and a tooling lathe courtesy of the Denver Mint, I was able to make some parts and corrections, as necessary. I restored two 1955 Chrysler C300s and a Cross ram Chrysler 300G. I acquired the new number 216 Buick GNX, which I really delighted in driving.
My most important restoration was the 1940 Lincoln Zephyr Continental convertible that took First Place Concours at the Tahoe 50th Anniversary of the Early Ford V8 Club.
Up to the present time, I have done a restomod restoration of a 1962 Pontiac Catalina, and I am now working on “Grandma,” a 1954 Chrysler Windsor four door with a transplant genuine Chrysler C300 hemi engine. (Sometimes I wish I could get an engine transplant.)
What about 2026? I want to keep driving safely and continue my record of driving since 1955 without an accident. For what will certainly be my last new car purchase, I bought a 2025 Cadillac XRT5 SUV in order to take advantage of the latest safety options.
I am sure we will venture much further into the EV era, which will see some outstanding new designs. I think the change from gasoline to electric power just displaces the environmental problem from the vehicle to the manufacture and electrical support of the EV vehicle. Too bad that hydrogen power is not a viable option at the present time. Its time will come along with advanced nuclear electricity generation. I am highly doubtful I will ever live to see that day.
I am quite hopeful that I will be around for all of 2026 and get to drive on rod runs along with many of my readers. Happy New Year – keep your garage a mess – and enjoy the fellowship of other gearheads!!