Today is the Fourth of July, our annual national birthday celebration replete with parades, cookouts, fireworks and, in the case of my son and me, a car show.
Later today Josh and I will be walking up to the Town Center that serves as a center point for our community of Anderson Township. Terminating there will be a parade. On our way we will stop at a neighboring watering hole called The Lounge and eat some freshly grilled burgers and hot dogs, expertly cooked up by my good friend Jack Dimeling. Then we will forego the bulk of the pomp and head right to the car show.
Seven years ago the parade and festivities were dreamed up as a way to bring the community together and give us all something to celebrate locally for the Fourth. The parade was the main event and while I watched my daughter Alli march in the parade with her fellow cheerleaders, it really was the car show that drew Josh and me in.
We had been to car shows and events prior to this but something special happened that very first year. Josh, who was then 11 years old, got the thrill of his young life in a most unexpected way.
Walking around the parked cars, admiring them all and wishing most of them belonged to us, at least long enough to take it for a test drive, we had encountered a number of beautiful machines. Near the end of our path we saw a car unlike any that Josh had seen before. It was a 2002 Morgan Plus 8. Josh was enthralled.
As he gawked at this machine he was approached by the car’s owner who said, “You know, there’s only one way to really appreciate this car.” Josh naturally asked how. And the man opened the driver side door and told Josh to slide in. For an 11 year old this was quite a thrill; especially when most car owners don’t want people, especially pre-teen boys, touching their prized possessions.
Unfortunately I didn’t have my camera with me (and my cell phone was from the dark ages before they took pictures and video) so I don’t have a picture of Josh in the car. The picture here is a different Plus 8 taken at the Ault Park Concourse d’Elegance a couple of years ago.
Josh was hooked and as he reluctantly stepped out from behind the wheel he said, through a smile as wide as his face, “That’s the car I want to take my driver’s test in.”
He didn’t test in a Morgan Plus 8, that was an old Volvo S70. But we still head up to car shows and he has since learned a great deal about classic cars. I doubt that Josh will have a chance to sit in a Morgan today, or any of the beautiful cars bound to be on display. But that day seven years ago provided a memory for us both.
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