Page 53 - Panama City Living July-August 2019

Fortunately for Cam, her husband, Larry, shares her automotive enthusiasm and Cam remembers the afternoon in 2002 when Larry made one of the best announcements ever in the many years of their marriage. He met her at the door with the words, “We need to talk.” To some wives, this statement would have brought deep concern. Not so for Cam. Larry declared that, after hours and hours of searching the internet, he’d found a car in Tyler, Texas, that would be ideal for building her the custom street rod of her dreams: a 1947 Ford Coupe Deluxe. The model was of special interest to Larry because he drove the sedan version his senior year in high school in Ohio in 1965. Fifty years later, after a few months of hard work, the Stewarts drove their custom Ford to Larry’s 50th high school reunion where it quickly became a “one-car car show” as his former classmates gathered around it. Wherever they drove it, it attracted spectators, and does so to this day.
The Ford was truly a barn find—a car stored away and forgotten until it is discovered in a barn. The Stewarts’ Ford was originally purchased new by a schoolteacher who owned it until late 1981 or 1982 when she traded it to a roofing contractor. That contractor lost interest in it after a few months, and the Ford went into a barn where it sat untouched for more than 20 years until the Stewarts bought it in August 2002. It still had the original license plate, with a 1982 expiration date.
When it was delivered to her home in Panama City a few weeks later, Cam took one look at it and remembers being so excited that her “lenses fogged up.”
An excellent example of craftsmanship and attention to detail in customizing. The seats are from an Oldsmobile.
Wherever they drove it, it attracted spectators, and does so to this day.
HOW WE ROLL
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