Gran Torino

I sat down and watched the Clint Eastwood movie Gran Torino the other night and it made me think of two things. The character Clint Eastwood played was a carbon copy of my father. The other thing is the car my parents gave to me to drive back and forth to work one summer while I was in college. It was a 1974 Ford Gran Torino station wagon with wood panel siding. It was built like a tank but it was something a 1970's housewife would have driven. It was also one of a kind especially in a small town like I grew up in.

I was embarrassed to drive that thing around town with the exception of to work and back and I believe that may have been Pops intention. It is hard to be the life of the party when you are driving something like that. My college years were the peak of my party years and that included the summers while I was at home. I thought I was never going to pick up girls in that thing but I was not to be deterred. My friend David talked me into taking the Gran Torino uptown one night and I soon learned that about eight girls would fit into the back of it. The wood paneled embarassment turned into the party wagon. It is too bad I did not learn its secret sooner. Its one of a kindness also came in handy because everyone knew it was me coming.

I grew to love that station wagon but Pops did not allow me to take it back to school with me so I could try its charms out up there. Pops sold it to one of our neighbors before I came home the next summer. I am sure it is resting comfortably in a junk yard somewhere but the memories of that summer with the Gran Torino live on.