Amherst... A feel great story for car nuts.

[ebinmaine 67,446]

 

 

This short little yarn is based on the memories of an experience on a wonderful morning more than a little bit ago by a man now known as The Large Bear.

 

Back in the 1990s I used to frequent an automotive flea market.

It was held very early in the morning on the last Sunday of every month, April - October, rain or shine. 

I had heard to it referred to by some of the older folks as The Ponoma Flea Market. 

I always knew it as the Amherst Antique Auto Flea Market.

Pretty much everybody I know just simply called it Amherst.

You going to Amherst?

How was Amherst?

See or buy anything good at Amherst?

 

It was an automotive related flea market, car show, used car lot to some extent, great place to grab breakfast. An all-around gathering spot for anybody who ever had even a remote appreciation of any car, truck or other machinery or smells such as car paint, hypoid gear oil, or rusty metal.

 

It was... an institution.

 

One of my favorite things to do during that era of my life was to get out of bed at 2:00 or 3:00 a.m. and make the hour's drive up to Amherst so I could be there as the cars were driving in long before the gates officially opened at 6:00 a.m.

Entries varied widely from month to month. Trucks, cars, motorcycles, etc. Muscle cars. Street rods. Hot rods. Most any vintage car. Drag cars that may or may not have been street legal... Driven in on "Temp" plates. 

 

Parking for non-exhibitors was set up in a rolling field maybe 10 or 15 acres that was usually stuffed to capacity by 7 or 8:00 a.m. . After that point in time you could only get in when one of the early risers left. Folks would be lined up a quarter mile or more down the road sometimes.

 

 

The display area was several smaller fields all connected to one another and divided by Stone walls, rows of trees or even lines of cars of a particular type. I'd estimate maybe 20 acres total, more or less.

 

Having been there more than a few times I had developed a habit of coming out of the parking area through the rows of cars, parts, accessories, and memorabilia for sale on my way to the entrance gate. 

I'd watch, listen to, smell, and sometimes even feel the sound and thunder of the engines as they came through and went to their respective parking.

 

Walk a big loop around, repeat.

 

On one of these excursions to the mechanical motherland there was a fellow who appeared to be well past his 80th birthday that was selling the hot rod he had built by hand himself many many years ago.

The car itself is not super important to the story but I remember it being some sort of a bucket body and I remember pretty vividly there was a nailhead engine in it of some sort. 

He had put the thing together back in the 40s or 50s and that engine landed in the car sometime in the late 50s or early 60s.

The Old Man had run it for a few years. Had a lot of fun. Good times. Good memories. Sometime in the late '60s or early '70s the car was parked, not running anymore.

If I remember right he had brought it to Amherst with a price tag around $4,500. Hoping to get $3,500, $3,800.

 

I suppose it was on my second or third circle around there was a couple guys that were fairly young. Might have been 25 or 30, maybe younger, standing there shooting the breeze with The Old Man. They only had about $2,500 give or take, between the both of them.

I didn't see most of the interaction but it was pretty obvious that the old fellow had taken a shine to these two and they struck up a deal. He would take what cash they had... If they could get that engine to run for him to hear one last time. 

 

Well they started messing around with that old hot rod. Did some diagnostics. Went to their truck and got some tools. Commenced to removing pieces parts.

 

I kept doing my standard issue circles walking around...

 

Well now ya know how lots of folks like to do a certain amount of mechanical tinkering and there's also a fair amount of us that just plain like to help people out.

Apparently what was happening in this particular situation is that some so-n-so and maybe his buddy would be walking by and see the nuts and bolts and parts flying off and of course question the situation.

Explanation given by the young men, someone would offer to help.

 

I'd swing by a little while later and there would be another guy or two and another tool box or two. 

 

As I was going by for the fifth or seventh time there was a crowd around the nose of that car that would have basically amounted to any racing pit crew in America. 

 

 

The intake, carb, distributor, valve covers, and some other things were laid out all around on people's toolboxes, carts, roofs, fenders, wherever it was convenient. The Old Man was standing around and watching the festivities offering advice and help whenever he could.

 

 

I I think it was maybe two or three hours into the event that you'd start to hear that engine want to come to life when they tried to fire it.

 

I don't recall ever hearing what the symptoms or diagnosis was. 

A little while later they did achieve success in getting that old beast of a power plant up and running. 

 

Needless to say both buyers and seller were something in the neighborhood of ecstatic.

 

The old man shed a few tears past his smile from ear to ear....

 

 The young men got themselves a car. 

 

And life went on at Amherst... 

 

@Mows4three @OldWorkHorse @Oldskool @JCM

[J854D 137]

What a great story Eric! Thanks for sharing it! -JD-

[Oldskool 6,644]

That is an awesome story. Heart touching.

Thank you for sharing.

It was similar circumstances that got me into street rods originally myself.

The tight woven comradery of car groups eventually let me here actually.

 

It is stories such as this that gives me hope that mankind my yet still survive.

 

Thanks again Eric for sharing