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One Cool Convertible
Claremore resident’s Ford Fairlane carries GMA on Rt. 66 tour
May 17, 2009 — Who would have ever thought two sisters would find their transportation needs met in Claremore?
Through a round about series of telephone calls ABC’s Good Morning America Weekend Anchor Kate Snow linked up with Bill and Shirley Flint. Snow made arrangements to drive Shirley’s 1958 Ford Fairlane 500 Skyliner with retractable hardtop for a mini tour of Route 66.
“They called a dealership in Tulsa, who called a friend of a friend who knew us,” Shirley said.
After they came to terms, Bill took the classic car on a trailer to Clinton, Okla., where Kate and her sister Barb drove a portion of Old Route 66 for a GMA segment. Video of the Snows’ driving the Flint’s classic car can be found at http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Travel/story?id=7543193&page;=1.
The Snows travelled from Clinton to Albuquerque, N.M., just over 400 miles in two days, Shirley said.
Bill went along with tools and all he needed to make any repairs in the event of a problem, she said.
“Cars are like people,” Shirley said. “It has issues like old people do. It might have needed some TLC along the way.”
The classic car which is fully restored has a 352 interceptor engine.
Bill travelled with the crew and the Snow sisters as they documented their Old Route 66 tour.
“He had a good time,” Shirley said. The segment aired last week on GMA Weekend.
Most people who own a classic car are reluctant to allow anyone to drive they vehicle.
“It’s my car,” Shirley said, who drives it to Wal-Mart, to take the grandchildren to get ice cream.
“I might drive it around today this afternoon,” she said on Wednesday, which is one of the few days Claremore hasn't experienced rain during the past month.
While she and her husband were at a car show in Pueblo, Co., she parked one of their classic cars next to the Fairlane.
“It just spoke to me and we brought it home,” she said.
The couple also owns a 1965 Cobra kit car, a 1942 Ford Street rod and a 1970 Mach I.
Between 1957-59 the model was so popular that President Dwight D. Eisenhower even ordered an early example for himself.
“Ford offered a modest but very noticeable face lift of its entire passenger-car line for 1958. Like the rest of the industry, it made the switch from dual to quad headlights as soon as vehicle codes allowed and had to redesign headlight pods to accommodate 1958’s hottest design feature,” according to HowStuffWorks.com, a Web site that documents the automotive industry’s industry.
Only 14,713 of the retractable models were built in 1958 and cost about $3,163.
The Flints are members of the Rt. 66 Cruisers Car Club that gathers on the first Sunday of every month at 5 p.m. at different locations.
The club is hosting a car show from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Aug. 7-8. The 2nd Annual Car Show Gatesway Foundation Hot Air Balloon Festival will be at Cherokee Casino Will Rogers Downs.
For more information about the club visit its Web site at http://www.route66cruisersok.org.
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