Allow me to introduce to you Aunt Lou. She is a pristine little 63.5 S-22 hardtop. She has faithfully served her 3 owners as a daily driver for 50 years now. She is completely unmolested with the only modifications ever being a pair of air shocks to take care of some sag of age and a set of 14” Cragar S/Ss (original 13s and caps are still with her) to compliment her natural appeal. Over the years she has been treated to a make over twice but it was simply to dress up her original parts, she retains most everything she came with from day one. The exceptions are wear items, the radiator, the heater core and the front fenders and bumper.
When she was new she was purchased in New Jersey by an older woman named Louise, the last name escapes me currently. She did not driver a heavy amount but counted on Aunt Lou to get her to and from her daily chores. With in a few years Ms. Louise busted Aunt Lou’s nose and had to take her to the doctor where see received a new set of fender, grille and bumper all OE parts, but sadly the Aunt Lou’s S-22 fender badges and 260 grille emblems were lost forever. After that minor event Aunt Lou provided Ms. Louise with flawless service with nary a hiccup until the late 70’s at which time it was given to Ms. Louise’s nephew Lou Rossi who had always shown a great appreciation for the little unassuming Aunt Lou.
Lou was to take Aunt Lou to a better place and treat here to her first makeover. In the early eighties he moved to Jacksonville, Fl and opened Lou’s Super Subs in the beach area. In 1984 (best I can determine) he took her to GT IRS a paint shop and had them give her a facial, some lower quarter work had to be done on both sides as well as a small section of the passenger’s front floor due to her time in Jersey. It was here that she received a rear end lift and a new set of kicks. She never looked better and even took some provocative pictures on the water. Man she was sexy.
Lou drove her happily along maintaining her daily driver status and treating her as she was intended to be treated, providing service to her owner. Well over time Lou moved to Tallahassee, Fl and was a system admin that worked with a friend of a friend, Aunt Lou was starting to show her age smoking and sagging as middle age women do. This is where I got involved with Aunt Lou and fell in love. In 94 Lou brought Aunt Lou to me for heart surgury, I carefully disassembled her mechanicals and lovingly reassembled her meaningful parts with care only someone who truly loved her sole could have done. I rebuilt the engine, had a friend do the 2 speed automatic, I inspected the rear end (no repairs were needed), completely rebuilt the steering and suspension and went through the manual brakes all 4 drums. Along the way the heater core and radiator were replaced as well for good measure. Every effort was made to rebuild instead of replace whenever possible. When I finished I drove Aunt Lou for several weeks to work out little things like the choke, cold idle and the power steering idle kicker (that is the most trick thing on the car).
After I was done Lou commissioned Rafael Bergsono to again redo her make up. Rafael made her completely naked, decided he didn’t like the quarter work previously done and redid it and then flawlessly applied another coat of colonial white and shined up all the stainless. The old girl still had sex appeal at 30! She attended a number of shows and won many awards during this phase of her life but still pressed on with her daily responsibilities.
Over time Lou and I became great friends and I was charged with keeping Aunt Lou predictable and well behaved. She saw constant service and Lou never pampered her driving most of the time like she was a race horse. Lou and I had another business venture together and he decided he was ready to cash out and sold me Aunt Lou in the deal. I was thrilled. Aunt Lou became my daily driver in the late 90s and not until I took a job where I traveled in 04 did she loose her responsibilities and evidentially lost her license (and registration). She became one of my cave dwellers, only being pulled out to be washed and driven around the neighborhood and then put away again for an undetermined amount of time. A few weeks ago I pulled her out, cleaned her up and got a new set of plates, her first antique plates (kinda an AARP card for cars). I had to go through her carb, replace 2 wheel cylinders and the rubber brake lines, tires and a new fuel sender float. Runs like a sewing machine. I have put her back in service, probably logging 500 plus miles in just a few weeks. I have referred to her as Aunt Lou since I learned her history many years ago (Lou’s Aunt Louise – Aunt Lou). I keep a Catholic statue she had on the dash in place even though I am not Catholic simply out of respect and as a rememberance to Aunt Lou.
Thursday was a bad day in Aunt Lou’s life, I had to order new red interior. I was devistated but it needs to be done. The original is not terrible but the driver’s seat is torn up, the seams are splitting and the top of the rear seat is blistered and cracking. Fortunately I ran across the guy in Washington with the NOS material and from what I can tell makes accurate reproductions so I feel good about that. I think I want to replace the fender badges and grille emblem if I can find them and eventually I will have to do the paint again and one area of the rear floor soon.
I hope you enjoyed the story of Aunt Lou, the 50 year (with a short break) daily driver and understand what she is and what she means.
I would love to post pictures but I don't have a photo bucket account and am not interested in getting one, should some one want any PM me your e-mail address and I will send you some.
Thank you, Kevin
