Well, the story starts back freshman year of high school. I began to get obsessed with classic cars (in particular Ford Mustangs) when my Dad and I discovered a few classic car dealers near our lake house in Conroe, TX. After discovering them, I forced my Dad to always take me to them and check out all of the beautiful pieces of history that to me had so much more character than present day cars. Thus started my determination to get a classic Mustang as my first car.
I read books. I did research. I spent hours on Ebay and classic car sale websites looking for great deals on 1965-1966 Mustangs. I knew every detail about these cars. I could tell you their history. I could tell you the year with a single glance. I consumed every possible ounce of information in order to show how my parents how determined I was to get an old Mustang.
As I got into my junior year, I felt the tides turning in my favor. My Dad started to slip over to my side and thought it would be a ton of fun to have a father-son project with fixing up this beautiful old piece of history. This takes us to my 17th birthday the summer before my senior year.
I woke up on my birthday without really expecting anything special. I don't remember if it was when I woke up in the morning or later at night. I just remember standing around the living room with my family when my parents gave me a gift bag. When I pulled out what was inside, It was a simple framed picture. That framed picture still hangs in my room within arms reach of me typing this post.
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| (It was this picture in the frame) |
The three kids standing in the car are my cousins. The kids of my uncle in California that I knew supported me getting my dream car. I immediately recognized what was going on and freaked out!! My parents informed me that my Uncle Ralph found a really good deal on a 1965 Mustang at a swap meet in Los Angeles and immediately called my Dad. My parents decided that it was too good of a deal to pass up and decided to surprise me on my birthday! Sadly, I had to wait another month to see her while she was being shipped across the country, but I couldn't complain! I was on cloud 9!!
Thus started one of the longest months ever. I knew that I wanted to give her a name. Any classic car deserves to have a suitable name to really show how special they are to their owners, and my car was no different. Therefore, the brainstorming began.
I spent weeks thinking of names. I felt like a single dad that was forced to name his newborn daughter. I knew that I wanted something classy. Some name that to me just spoke of elegance, because, unlike what most people believe, Mustangs were not originally created as muscle cars. They weren't originally very powerful or meant to be on racetracks. That spawned out of the later generations and into the muscle car craze of the 70's.
I still distinctly remember when I came up with her name. While vacationing in Lake Tahoe with my family, I slept soundlessly in one of the downstairs beds, and that's when I had a very vivid dream. I dreamt that I sat in the backseat of our family Suburban (the car I actually took to college with me), and I asked my family who was in the car with me what they thought of the name Audrey for my new car. My whole dream family loved the name!! They all thought it was a perfect fit for my dream car.
Fortunately, I remembered my dream when I woke up. I loved Audrey Hepburn ever since my parents showed me My Fair Lady as a young kid, so when I remembered the name, it really just felt right. I then went to have breakfast with the family and told them about my dream. As if already decided by fate, they all loved it just like they did in the dream! Thus stuck the name of my soon to be partner in crime, Audrey.
She's come a long way since I first got her. She looks quite different then she used to, but she's still my pride and joy. It's been a long 6 years together with plenty of blood, sweat, and tears (literally!), but she's been worth it all. Thanks for all the memories Audrey, and here's to a lifetime more of them.
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