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My First Car A 1962 Chevy Belair
“The Black Beauty”
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 an8 track is, think CD player of today)!
Unfortunately my poor baby was broken into a couple oftimes 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!
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