Searchin': I'd been searching for good old-car weather all last week. It had been very cloudy with off-and-on rain almost every day. On Saturday, at noon, it was a comfy 65 degrees outside with skies dancing between partly and mostly cloudy. I fired up my '39 Plymouth coupe and went for a drive. There was enough sunshine and blue sky overhead that I wore sunglasses.

As I was driving along, the song Searchin' by The Coasters came blasting through the speakers. This 1957 musical ditty was written by those gods of fifties music, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, and was released as a 45 single by Atco Records in March. I still have the white-and-yellow labeled original 45 around here somewhere. Searchin' rose to #3 on the national pop singles chart. The B side, Young Blood - another Leiber and Stoller creation (with help from Doc Pomus), did well too. It reached #8 on the Billboard Hot 100.

It should be noted that Searchin' was recorded by the original members of The Coasters. Over the years, there have been more Coasters than members of the Congressional Black Caucus. Ditto The Dominoes. And The Platters. I recall that there were several groups of The Coasters touring simultaneously during the heydays of the traveling Fifties Oldies Shows in the late 1980s.

Rob DeWitt, a regular reader of my blog, added this fun Coasters story: "As well as classical music, I spent many years as a guitar player with bluegrass and swing bands, and knew lots of musicians as a result. A guy I worked with told the tale of playing in Reno for awhile, where at one point he opened for (the then-current iteration of) The Coasters.

Naturally, he dashed off-stage and scurried to the wings where he watched their show in awe, and afterwards struggled not to embarrass himself with praise for how much their music had meant to him as a kid. They invited him to come hang in their dressing room. Directly one of them discreetly - with gestures and puffing noises - asked whether he smoked weed.

On receiving the go-ahead, the whole group broke into 'Yakety-Yak', with the lyrics "Break out the papers and the stash ..." in perfect Coasters harmony." (The original lyrics were: "Take out the papers and the trash … or you don't get no spendin' cash.")

Back to my drive: Traffic was mostly light and I had a very enjoyable excursion in my old car. The rain returned early Sunday morning and the weather has been unfavorable ever since. (posted 9/6/19, permalink)

How Many Summers? Almost twenty years ago, I visited a custom car builder in Portland as part of a car club meet. The owner used to do restorations of classic cars - Cords, Packards and the like - but he switched to creating high-end, custom resto-rods because the profits were better and, unlike many of his classic car customers, the resto-rod patrons never ran out of money in the middle of the job.

When I was there, he was doing a Chevy Nomad, coupling a clean '55 wagon with an almost-new Corvette that had been rolled. The Nomad was sectioned and slightly chopped and the Corvette frame was stretched and narrowed to fit the Nomad's revised body. Finished price was around half-a-million bucks. His typical customer was a wealthy, aging California tech wizard who wanted to relive his somewhat-to-mostly fictional dream youth.

Speed of completion was far more important than cost. Said the contract designer hired for this job: These guys are feeling the weight of age upon them and ask, "How many summers have I got left?" Indeed.

I ask myself that same question from time to time; that's why I try to take as many drives in my '39 Plymouth coupe as I can. So, when Saturday, August 4th, dawned bright and sunny (after several days of overcast skies and light rain), I said to myself, "Let's go."

There were patches of dark skies to the East and, at 9:30 am, the temperature was in the upper 50s. I had the windows down and played '50s rock-n-roll through the old coupe's twin speakers during my travels. Good drive. And the last one before my 75th birthday. (posted 8/6/18, permalink)

Rituals: Easter weekend has long had secular, car-related rituals for me. In the old days, when we lived in New Jersey, I would turn on the outside faucets at our house, drag out the rubber garden hoses and hook them up. Then I'd jack up our cars and swap the studded snow tires for regular ones. Finally, I'd wash both cars which - typically - hadn't been cleaned since Thanksgiving. In these 1971 photos (below: center & right), you'll see our two freshly-washed Volkswagen Beetles as well as my three year-old son in his newly-cleaned VW pedal car.

Poster Child: My son Joe, who - in addition to his many artistic talents and achievements - makes a nice living as a graphic designer, surprised me by using my '39 Plymouth coupe in a poster he designed for an upcoming car show:

It looks awesome! Thanks, Joe. (posted 2/19/18, permalink)

In Between The Rain: It has been a rainy week around these parts but Monday (10/9/17) dawned foggy but dry. The fog finally lifted at 11:15 am, so I decided to take a drive in my '39 Plymouth coupe.

The temperature was a decidedly chilly 48 degrees, something my Plymouth's primitive box heater doesn't handle well. At the end of the sunny, fun drive, my hands were like ice. Shoulda worn gloves, I guess.

In The Summertime: With apologies to Mongo Jerry:

Blue Skies, Smilin' At Me. Nothin' But Blue Skies Do I See: Early last week, I visited the Oncology Center for blood tests and a CT scan. On Friday, I saw the oncologist and got the results. All is well, at this time. The blood test measures cancer markers - carcinoembryonic antigen - in the blood. Mine is now 0.6, which remains within normal range (0-2.5 µg/L). The suspect area is unchanged in size - a further indicator that the cancer is dormant or, possibly, dead. My next blood test will be in mid-July.

Back From The Shop: My 1939 Plymouth has returned from the body/paint shop. The paint is as smooth as glass as are the body panels. The paint is more metallic and and is covered with multiple coats of clear coat. The results are spectacular.

More photos can be found here. (posted 6/18/15, permalink)

Trailered Away: Regular readers of my blog know that I've been getting a lot of '39 Plymouth drives in lately. There's a reason why.

Last Tuesday (5/19/15), my old coupe was hauled off to the shop to get some body work done as well as a fresh paint job. There are many small body flaws, including a misaligned trunk, Bondo pops and fenders which need a little straightening. The paint on the car is almost 30 years old and has developed a slew of micro-blisters. While the paint looks good from five feet away, the number of blisters is increasing every year, so it's time for a repaint. (My paint guy said the blisters are caused by poor prep work before painting.) We're keeping the color almost the same with a little more silver metallic added.

I'm glad I didn't wash the car because it was raining when I drove it up on the trailer.

Hopefully, I'll get the Plymouth back in early June. This cosmetic work is in addition to all the mechanical work I had done in April. All of the little mechanical and electrical annoyances which have built up over the last several years are now fixed. I also had the gasket at the top of the tank - where the sending unit is located - replaced. The result is no more leaks and gas odor after each fill up and, apparently, a more-accurate gas gauge as well.

Sunny Morning Comin' Down: If you read much of my writing, you'd think that it rains continuously from November 1st to July 10th around here. The fact is that we do get a few sunny days even in Winter. Wednesday was one such day. This is the view at 7:30 am from our deck - the outside temperature was a chilly 30 degrees:

By 1:00 pm, it had warmed up to 44 degrees, so I fired up my '39 Plymouth coupe and took my first drive of 2015. By then, the clouds were beginning to move in - the rains returned Thursday - but I had a nice country roads drive.

Four-Wheeled Therapy: Regular readers of 'The View Through The Windshield' blog already know of my medical issues. In April 2014, I was diagnosed with cancer. I had surgery a couple of weeks later. The operation took longer than expected due to complications and I was hospitalized for eight days. In May, I had more surgery to install a port; in early June, I began a six-month regimen of infusion chemotherapy, to be followed by additional surgery early next year.

While this sounds ominous, the fact is that my post-chemo prognosis looks pretty good. Nevertheless, I can use any prayers you'd care to offer on my behalf.

I have had a lot of love from family and friends and am being cared for by an excellent team of doctors and nurses. But an unexpected area of support is the uplifting feeling I get whenever I slide behind the wheel of my '39 Plymouth coupe.

Driving it makes me feel like I'm 16 years old again. It makes me forget my troubles for a bit and enjoy the sunshine, fresh air and rumble of the V8 engine. (The small black box on my left hip is a portable chemotherapy pump.)

Attitude is said to be one of the key factors in overcoming disease. I am taking as many Plymouth rides as I can these days, realizing that, as the chemotherapy progresses, its side effects may prevent future joyrides in my old car.

I'm happy to be feeling good as I write this and am hopeful for a complete recovery so that I can fire up my old Plymouth whenever I want in 2015. (posted 6/6/14, permalink)

Sweet Spot: Everyone talks about heavy Labor Day traffic but, when I took a drive in my '39 Plymouth coupe at 10:00 am, the roads were practically empty.

I guess that everyone who was headed somewhere was already there and I was in the sweet spot of holiday traffic. The skies were pellucid blue with white clouds here and there and the temperature was a comfortable 63 degrees.

Celebrating Earth Day: Following a couple of rain-filled weeks, the sun finally appeared yesterday morning. What better way to celebrate Earth Day than by firing up an old car, unrestrained by any pollution-contol devices, and driving along country roads, depleting the ozone layer which - in my opinion - has been getting waaay too thick.

First 2013 Drive: On Monday, it was sunny with clear skies that carried the hopeful blue hue of spring. I fired up my '39 Plymouth coupe for the first time since late November, 2012 and took a drive.

It is said that it only rains once a year in the Pacific Northwest - from November 1st to July 15th. This winter, the weather has been relatively warm and wet with only one snow shower - it left only a trace of white stuff.

It was chilly - 42 degrees at 10:30 am on Monday - and the Plymouth's original heater box is never up to the task but the weather was just too inviting. The car fired right up without complaint. Nevertheless, the vinyl seats drained any lower body warmth so quickly that it seemed like they were violating several Laws of Heat Transfer.

I pointed the Plymouth's Mayflower-topped prow nose toward the public library and set sail. Afterwards, I headed east toward Hockinson to give the old coupe a little more exercise. It was so clear that I could the craggy white peak of Mount Hood sticking up over the snowy eastern hills like an old, arthritic proctologist's knuckle. The roads were lightly traveled and my drive was most pleasant.

I'm looking forward to more Plymouth mini-excursions in the near future. Alas, the rains returned on Tuesday. (posted 3/5/13, permalink)

Cold Travels: The joke among those living west of the Cascades in the Pacific Northwest is that it only rains once a year - from November 1st to July 15th. Lately, the weather has been quite wet; I hadn't driven my '39 Plymouth in over a month.

We caught a break in the falling water from Saturday afternoon until late Tuesday with honest-to-God partly-sunny skies. On a chilly Monday morning (44 degrees at 11:30 am), I fired up the old coupe and went for a drive.

The heater in my car is original - a primitive box near the floor that takes its time warming up and then dispenses a feeble stream of warmth at the rate a stingy, bitter old man gives out throat lozenges as Halloween treats.

I did get a wave from a cheerful, hot blooded fellow crossing the street to pick up his mail; he was clothed in a thin T-shirt and shorts. I waved back with a gloved hand.

The skies were an anemic blue with streak of wispy clouds here and there. The view was quite good; in fact, the skies were so clear that for the first time in 23 years, I could spot the peak of Mt. Hood in the far distance. Snowy-white Mt. St. Helens resembled the top half of a giant Hostess Sno Ball. The sun was that pale winter color for which there's no Crayola match. Neither orange, nor yellow, it still managed to brighten the skies during this brief drive on a short day.

I had a very pleasant ride on almost-empty country roads. On a related note, did I mention that my grandson now has his driver's permit?

(posted 10/28/12, permalink)

Oh, The Days Dwindle Down: It's been almost two weeks since my last '39 Plymouth ride. Ever since I gassed the car up, the weather has been against me - rain, fog, etc. When the sun finally returned, albeit briefly, I fired up the old coupe and took a drive.

The Fall colors are nearing their peak around here and the warmth of summer is gone - it was 53 degrees at 11:30 am. But the skies were a pale blue dotted with puffy clouds and it was a very pleasant ride. (posted 10/19/12, permalink)

Stabilizing: On Monday, I drove my '39 Plymouth to the local gas station and filled it up ($4.43/gallon ... ouch!) after dumping some Sta-Bil fuel stabilizer in the tank.