Being the same make and model as the 1951 Ford they used to drive in when dating, Elon resident William Terrell and wife Janice could almost re-live the nostalgia of their youth.
Almost.
“She doesn’t like to ride in it because it doesn’t have seatbelts,” he says, putting in perspective the much more stringent safety measures of the 21st century.
Even so, Terrell likes to drive the antique locally on occasion and to car shows and parades, such as Gibsonville’s recent Christmas parade.
Ironically, the couple didn’t seek out their old dating car, looking instead to a newspaper’s “for sale” section and contacting the seller before finding both the vehicle and its owner familiar; the former owner was a former colleague of Janice’s.
In the decade since, Terrell has been at work on the Ford, explaining that the most challenging part of the renovation has been acquiring all of the needed chrome, some of which has come from as far away as Richmond, Virginia.
“I’m self-taught, but my dad was a mechanic, and I was around him all the time,” he recalls. “He would show me things and encourage me. I don’t know if it was poured into me or what, but I enjoyed it.”
That said, Terrell notes that the most enjoyable part so far of fixing up the car has been getting it running and on the road. Ultimately, he says, the most pertinent advice – as many other antique vehicle renovators would agree – is “a lot of patience.”
See story on another local man who has restored four antique cars over the past 40 years: https://alamancenews.com/patience-is-greatest-lesson-learned-from-restoring-four-antique-cars/
