We've been seeing vintage American cars travelling south over the past week here at Struan Farm, heading down to New Plymouth's annual "Americana" car festival. And over the weekend they all travelled back, many stopping in Piopio at the Fat Pigeon Cafe for coffee and/or a meal.
It was lovely to see the beautifully maintained cars and trucks parked around town! Almost makes me want a vintage Ford or Chevy pick-up truck...it would make quite the statement running into town each day to check the Piopio Community Fruit & Veg Stand, wouldn't it?
Growing up my mother drove a robin's egg light blue Chevy convertible we christened "Bessie the Bomb." Bessie would have been circa mid-late 1950's, so would have been related to some of these cars passing through Piopio. She didn't have long tail "fins," she was a bit more elegant and rounded, with a canvas roof. The sort of car one would drive wearing a head scarf and big sunglasses a la Grace Kelly or Audrey Hepburn. Her floor in the back rusted out toward the end of her life with us--things were a little hand to mouth at times growing up and my parents would have purchased her used. Eventually Bessie was replaced with a new VW bug that wasn't given a name. That was the car I learned to drive on, with the engine in the back and a stick shift of course.
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