My first car was a extraordinary black, 2
door 1962 Chevy Belair with blue vinyl seats, which I nicknamed “The
Black Beauty”! I mean she shined beautifully when polished. There
is nothing like a black car highly polished! It also didn’t hurt
to have those 8 cylinders and that great 283 workhorse engine that Chevy
put in it! And all for the bargain price of $400! Five years later I sold
it for the same price!
Like many of my generation, we normally got cars for our graduation.
I was lucky, as my dad worked for Rolls Royce and the head mechanic
there, Johnny T was selling this fantastic car. Now this wasn’t
just any 1962 Chevy Belair. Since Johnny T was an avid fisherman
and didn’t want to ruin the upholstery he covered the cloth
upholstery with a blue vinyl one. Johnny also put in all the instrumentation
needed on the inside of the car, oil and temp gauge, and tach.
He also installed a blinker system, so the blinkers were on the
hood. The final coupe de grace was putting Rolls Royce seat belts
in the car. Since Johnny was a great mechanic and of course, did
all his own work, when he sold us the car he included extra tires
and all the materials to keep the brakes up to par for many years
to come.
I can remember my first drive in the car. I pulled out of my drive
way and drove over to the park a couple blocks away, too, of course,
show it off to all my friends.
I cleaned the Black Beauty every weekend from top to bottom. My
Saturday morning ritual was cleaning the inside, and then washing
it. I waxed it once a month. My dad went and got me a 8 track cassette
for it (yes, I know I just dated myself; for those of you who don’t
know what an 8 track is, think CD player of today)! Unfortunately
my poor baby was broken into a couple of times when they stole
my 8 track and some very nasty person slit the front seat. Bad
enough they took my 8 track and tapes, the least they could have
done is left the seat alone. So, yes there were bad eggs around
then too!
Whenever we had to make a trip into the city (New York that is),
my father made me drive while he sat in the back seat. It had a
amazingly comfortable ride, even with all the pot holes on the
Long Island Expressway! In addition to drives into the city, I
had loads of fun in the Black Beauty with my friends.
Unfortunately I had to sell the “Black Beauty” when
my husband and I went off to graduate school. However, don’t
feel too bad, we had replaced it with a 1976 Pontiac Trans Am,
yep, the last of the big 455’s. Plus we had the engine blue
printed, balanced and a whole lot more, so it really hauled a**!
We sold the Black Beauty to a neighbor, who took out the vinyl
seats and lo and behold the cloth ones were in excellent condition.
He eventually sold it to his brother in Brooklyn, who while driving
one day went to step on the brake pedal and his foot went through
the floor. Unfortunately the harsh NY winters aren’t kind
to cars!
I think many of us wax sentimental when we think of our first
car, I know I do! Luckily , I still have my pictures and some very
great memories of my “Black Beauty”!
Drive On!
DeFiore Enterprises, Copyright 2005
About the Author
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