Chevy Calling

Every time Bill K. would see the ‘56 Chevy pickup parked in a consignment car lot in Pleasanton, he would think about buying it.  It was a “semi-custom,” with a souped-up 350 CID Chevy engine, an auto trans and a tilt hood that opened from the cowl side, but the longer it sat out on the lot, the more it deteriorated.  The upholstery faded from gold to gray.  The whitewall tires turned green.  Bill talked about it with his wife, Verrone, but never did anything.  After a year of this, Verrone felt they should act and called the dealer. He put them in touch with the owner and Verrone negotiated the purchase.  After they bought it, Bill found a few other problems, such as there were no motor mounts and, in his words, “everything leaked.”  Still, it was basically a solid truck and the engine was strong.  So Bill did repairs, re-upholstered it, added air conditioning, decked out the engine with chrome, covered the bed with a hinged lid and painted it.  Now their classy Chevy is black cherry with multi-colored phantom flames on the hood, dash and deck lid.  It’s all because Verrone made the call.