Is there a car from your past that you’d like to own now? When I was eleven years old, I fell in love with our families’ brand new 1949 Mercury. In fact, I have several models of that car sitting around my home. It was a beautiful shade of blue. The twin spotlights were neat. The upholstery was beautiful. And the lines, aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh! That car helped put an end to the boxy, ugly shapes that showed up in dealer’s showrooms during the war and thereafter. The sleek lines really grabbed my attention, especially the rear of the car.

However, the thing I remember best and loved most were the twin pipes. Yep! Ours arrived from the factory with twin pipes and beautiful fender skirts. The sound was pretty good. My father wasn’t happy with just having two pretty good sounding pipes. On a trip to California, he had what he called “California Mufflers” installed. About all I can tell you is this: If you’ve never heard a flathead V-8 Mercury engine, fitted with twin custom mufflers, you ain’t lived! It’s just about impossible to describe the sound to you with mere mortal words. The “oogle oogle” sound at idle speed. The gutsy, full- throated rising pitch that occurred when our car accelerated. Wow!

Well, I never did get to drive that car. My first car was a ’53 Chevy. It was the last of the six cylinder engines before they added an eight cylinder engine in ’54. I tried my best to make it sound good, but didn’t really get the sound I wanted.

The first new car I owned was a ’61 Volkswagen. I found an after market exhaust system made by Empi. It kinda, in a distant way, gave my little bug a somewhat, almost might be sound similar to a Porsche. I liked it, but it still didn’t really meet the test of the ’49 Merc.

Finally, in 1969, I bought a Chevy with a 350 V-8 engine. It‘s first 3,000 miles were put on by kids in the local driver training program. That car became my friend, my companion, my opportunity to try and recapture the sounds of 1949. This was our family car. It was also my volunteer fireman car. There were antennas sticking up from several locations on the body. There were red lights mounted in the grill. There was a piercing siren nestled under the protective carapace of the hood.

But, UNDER that Chevy was the secret to it’s important place in my life. Twin Cherry Bombs! Yep, you got it! They produced a sound as close as I’d ever managed to get from one of my automobiles. That car took our family and me more than 350,000 miles around town, across the country, over the prairies, and dry creek beds in the Texas Panhandle. We fought fires; we look for tornadoes!

Well, when Tonka came into my life, about the only disappointment I experienced was that the only time she really sounded good was when the muffler started to wear out around 200,000 miles. There just didn’t seem to be a muffler system designed for that little four cylinder engine that could measure up in my mind (and ears).

Now, 400,000 miles finally took their toll and Tonka went into semi-retirement. Tonka was replaced (oh, how could I use that word “replaced”?) by Tonka 02. The new truck is a six cylinder vehicle. My elder son, Tim, made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. A friend of his owed him a favor. The man happened to manage a muffler shop. The deal was this: If I would find a muffler I liked, his friend would mount it. I did find a Flowmaster muffler that sounded very good. One pipe comes in, but TWO PIPES COME OUT THE BACK END OF MY TRUCK! What a sound! My wife, Pat, still says that she could get the same sound out of a her muffler with a screwdriver! I’ve tried to convince her that there IS a difference between a worn-out muffler and a finely tuned muffler. Don’t know if she’s really convinced yet.

Bottom line? I really like the sound Tonka 02 makes as we idle, accelerate, and head on down the road. Of course, I hear the sound from INSIDE the cab. I confess that I do enjoy seeing the heads of of the young guys turn and look as I pass them!

Recently I got to actually hear my own pipes, from the back of the truck. That hasn’t happened before. I needed to have a little job done on the rear of Tonka 02. The tech backed her in. What a thrill to hear my truck. It sounded so different from my new perspective. It sounded even better!

That got me thinking. In 1 Samuel 16:7 we read, “But the LORD said to Samuel, ‘The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.’” What a difference perspective makes.

• One person’s cool pipes are another person’s noisy, worn out muffler!
• We don’t all see (or hear) things exactly alike!
• When we feel that it’s necessary to form an opinion or make a judgement about someone else and their life or circumstances, we would do well to see and evaluate them through God’s eyes and ears!

Someday, some way, I really want to drive down the road in a ’49 Mercury – Biscay Blue; twin spotlights; twin pipes that go VROOOOOOOM! VROOOOOOOM! OOOGLEOOOGLEOOOGLE!

I’d enjoy hearing the story about your favorite car. Also, feel free to share your insights into this area. When you E-mail PapaJ, get ready for a rapid AND full-throated reply! (g)

Next Inside Out          Gallery              Previous Inside Out