Blog 3627 – 10.08.2025

Sweet Rides

In my almost seventy-five years I have known some sweet rides. The first sweet ride that I owned was a nineteen fifty-seven Ford Custom. It was a black, two-door, with a six-cylinder engine, manual three speed shift on the column, and no power steering. My dad bought it for me with one hundred fifty dollars that I had saved sacking groceries at the Piggly Wiggly. You never forget your first love nor your first car.

My first car looked like the Ford pictured without the white panels. Henry Ford is quoted as saying about the Model T that you could get it in any color you wanted as long as it was black. I still smile when I see a 1957 Ford on the road or in an old nineteen fifties movie.

Years later I bought another black beauty, a 2005 Jeep Wrangler. I drove it on the longest road trip that I ever took from Detroit, Michigan to Kenai, Alaska. The most direct route would have been 4,011 miles, but since I had never been in Idaho, Oregon, or Alaska, I wanted to be able to add those three to the other forty-seven states that I had already been in so my route total mileage was 4,811. I also added the Yukon Territory to the list of Canadian Provinces that I have been in. The drive through British Columbia, the Yukon Territory, and Alaska were marvelous as was the trek across the northern United States. My six speed manual shift V-6 Wrangler handled beautifully.

It was an equally wonderful drive back to the States. After four weeks in Alaska, my next work assignment was in Wyoming where I bought a 1960 Willys Jeep. We were allowed an extra pay allowance for a side by side and I got approval to purchase the three speed four-wheel drive Willys that could go places that my 2005 Wrangler though also four wheel drive could not.

Recently my son Jay helped me acquired a 2011 Polaris Ranger 500 to use on our Hundred Acre Wood in Bon Wier, Texas. The original bumper was rusted through so I got a new bumper for it and side mirrors. A can of Mink Oil restored the Sage Green original color of the hood and also brought back the original color to the top and sides. Now I have a wonderful new addition to a life time of sweet rides.

Your friend and fellow traveler,

David James White