So in his friends Billy Dickinson’s garage the car received new paint and it turned out just like Bruce had wanted. The flat pearl finish draws a lot of comments. Over the past three and half years Bruce has been asked a lot ...”what kind of paint is that”? ... Like in the past that “piece of junk” runs down the highway with the pride and glory she always had and today is again the “Who’s Who” of the highway!
Bruce has owned approximately fifty old cars through the years, including many ‘57 Chevy’s, (one which he had owned for 26 years), ‘57 Olds, ‘59 Pontiac, ‘50’s Chevy truck, several 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s Cadillacs and Buicks ... even a fiberglass ‘29 Ford Hot Rod. They’ve all come and gone, but the ‘53 Cadillac Coupe de Ville, is “the car” that Kelly has made her father promise that he will never sell. “This one” the infamous “piece of junk” is very much a part of the Ferguson family forever.
Still Runnin frequents the Atlee Car Show off of 301 in Mechanicsville, VA where you may often see this beautiful ‘53
I’ve grown up around old cars and I’ve always loved them. I think I am pretty close to one of the only 20 year old girls that knows what a dagmar or a curb-feeler is and I’m proud of it.
We have had the ‘53 Cadillac as far back as I can remember. It’s a part of the family, it just has to sleep in the garage. It was and still is so cool to have grown up around neat old cars and really grow to appreciate them and enjoying driving, or in my case, riding in them. I can’t wait to have my own to cruise in one day. Dad says, “the right one will come along... sometime”.
One of the fondest memories that I’ll always have is all the road trips to Pennsylvania for the KKOA Sled Scene East show. Dad says I was 6 the first year I went with them to that show. We went in a ‘57 Olds that year. After that we went in the ‘53 Cad almost every year. I was always allowed to bring a friend to keep me occupied, I could never get them as into the cars as I was. I have to say that as a kid the Cadillac had an enormous back seat and I loved every trip with my parents, no matter if we were going to a weekend cruise-in or through several states for an annual show.
As a kid the shows in Pennsylvania seemed gigantic. I could walk and walk forever and still not see everything. While at that show one year, I was playing on some bars at a playground in the park where the show was held and while not paying attention to what I was doing because I was checking out a car passing by, now I wish I could remember what it was, and slipped and fell and busted my chin wide open. Lots of blood and a scar to prove it. Ha... I can’t tell you how many times dad said “Look up!” to me on that trip so he could check out how my injured chin was holding up. But one of the coolest parts that stands out in my mind was back at the hotel in the evenings sitting on a balcony watching flame-throwers contests in the parking lot. Very cool!
I remember even when I was very young thinking how neat it was when people would beep and wave just because they liked the car I was riding in, whether it was the Cadillac or one of the many others we’ve had over the years. Everywhere we went I felt like I was riding in a parade, we couldn’t even stop at a gas station without someone wanting to stop to admire and strike up a conversation.
The saying is really very true...
“Old cars make friends”
Kelly Ferguson