Thanks so much for reading and commenting.

Boy, are you right! Everything one buys today appears to have a miniscule lifespan and falls apart quite radically — unlike the appliances and cars of our parents day.

One car that I bought some years after the Chevy, was a used 1960 Chrysler (Valiant I think) with a Slant Six engine. That poor car gamely withstood the rutted dirt roads leading to and from the farm where I was living with some buddys, until the springs and suspension gave out. Then we parked it near the stables. A year later we thought maybe it might still run and someone turned it on. Amazingly — it started. Best little car I ever had up until my 1990s’ Subaru wagon. (I (sadly) followed that one with a Fix Or Repair Daily. What a piece of junk. It really earned its nick name.

One of the things I loved about the Chevy was the sturdiness of it. Never any doubt about who would win in a bumper contest! I’ll bet my friend had a riot with it in the demolition debies, it really was built like a brick you-know-what.