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| "49 Buick Roadmaster" oil on canvas, 24"x 36" |
Everyone has memories of their cars especially the magic of the first one regardless of how great or how shitty the car actually was. And like first kisses or first dates you just don't forget them. My first car at age 16 or 17 wasn't anything too amazing. It was an early 80's Mazda pick-up truck. I think we paid $2400.00 at a used car lot. My dad helped me pick it out and paid for some of it as well. It had a lot of Bondo repair under the paint cause it was Pennsylvania and I don't think rust proofing was fully established back then. The bumpers almost fell off when I took it in for an inspection. It was mine and that's all that mattered. I had a lot of good times in that truck. It got me to Boston from Pennsylvania albeit slowly because for some reason it just couldn't do more than 55 mph.
My dad was able to buy his first car after being in America for only a couple of years which was a game changer for him because buying a car in his home country of East Germany would have taken nearly 15 years. That 1958 Plymouth made all the hard work of farming worthwhile. He was able to live the American dream and so he stayed.
Painting cars has also given me the chance to talk to people about their cars especially their first ones and there is usually a good story told with lots of nostalgia. I don't think cars back in the day were as reliable as they are now so it was a mystery whether or not your car would even start or it would only run if you did some ritual prayer before turning the key and you never had enough money for gas even though it was less than 25 cents per gallon! Part of why I like painting the old cars is that they had character and personality and that's what I try to capture when I paint cars.
