Blue Heaven

Growing up in a small town.

There was an old woman living on my street when I was growing up. Her name was Flolly Herndon. She lived alone in the house that had belonged to her parents. Miss Herndon was tall and bony and wore shoes that dated her from a prior era.

Miss Herndon drove a black, four-door 1932 Model B Ford. It looked sort of like a rectangular box with a smaller rectangular box containing the motor affixed on the front end. There were latches so that you could open either side of the front hood. The radiator was rather prominent and there were two large round chrome headlights.

The door handles to the passenger "box" were adjacent so that you could open both doors at the same time. The doors swung out in opposite directions—not like cars today. The gear shift was a long stick coming out of the floor with a black round knob at the end.

The car had windshield wipers—I can't remember whether just on the driver's side or on the passenger's side as well. There was an oval window in the back so that you could look out and you could roll up and down the windows in each of the doors. There was no radio.

The car had spoke wheels with the spare mounted on the back for the world to see. There was no trunk. I never tested the car's top speed, but it wasn't much. I would be surprised if it exceeded 35 miles per hour.

In 1950 or '51, Miss Herndon traded in her 1932 Model B for a new car—a black Ford. I'll bet it didn't have a radio either and I'll also wager that she found it inferior to her 1932 Model B.

Mother and Dad (most likely Mother) decided the Model B would be perfect as a car for Bob, my 15-year-old brother. They had the car painted light blue, recovered the seats in a red plastic and had a horn installed with three buttons each sounding a different note. The car was named "Blue Heaven", sometimes shortened to "Blue".

Blue Heaven was a car that ran; it was no doubt better than nothing, but not much. Bob kept Blue for a bit and then gave it to our cousin Bill. Bill passed Blue to his brother, Jim, who gave it to me.

Thus, Blue became mine! And I was twelve years old.