Classic Cars of South Carolina Inc.

06/29/2026

I am Ron Ayers. I run Classic Cars of South Carolina, located about 20 minutes east of Greenville, SC. Several years ago I started writing stories of my life’s adventures. I was sure that my friends and acquaintances might enjoy reading them as much as I enjoyed writing them. I will be posting these chapters on my Classic Cars of SC page over the next few weeks. This is Chapter 49 of my story. I hope each and everyone of you who read these stories will enjoy them. It is finally done. As of June 25th the Land where Classic Cars of SC is located is sold and I will have to clear everything off of the property by the end of February, 2027. I have a LOOOOOOOOOT of vehicles, parts and other stuff to sell or dispose of by then. Drop by my Field of Dreams and make me an offer I can’t refuse on anything here, and it may just become yours. If you, or anyone you know, might be looking for anything that I might have, please, you or have them, contact me at 864-313-2908. I hope you enjoy this chapter as well as the other chapters of my Life’s Stories. Please leave a comment if you enjoyed it. Thanks for reading and may you have a BLESSED day. Ron at classiccarssouthcarolina.com

49) Dino, the best dog ever, and my best friend, Getting Killed
In 1996 I had sold 2 early 50’s Ford F1 pickups to a customer in eastern North Carolina not far from the beach. I agreed to deliver them to him.
I asked my girl friend at the time, Kaye Y. if she would like to go with me. I loaded one of the trucks up on my Ford Rollback car hauler and the other one on my trailer. My girl Friend, Kaye, my best friend, my we**ie dog, Dino, (I always like to say he was half a dog high and a dog and a half long) and I headed to North Carolina. I went down I 385 to I 26 toward Columbia and hit I 20 toward Florence. Then we turned north on I 95 and went into North Carolina and finally headed east out through the country to my destination.
I finally got close to where I was going. I was getting ready to turn down the road to the customers house and I spotted a yard sale a little ways up on the opposite side of the road. I decided that I would stop at the yard sale on my way back out.
I delivered the trucks and headed back home. I stopped and pulled off on the opposite side of the road from where the yard sale was. I left the drivers side window about half way down and I left Dino laying in the front seat of the truck. I, and Kaye, walked across the road to where the yard sale was and started looking around.
All of a sudden, I heard a screech and a plop and my Dino slid up to my shoes bleeding. That little feller had jumped out the window of my truck and ran across the road where I was and got hit by a car and killed.
He had never jumped out the window before. I cried like a baby. My best friend was dead.
Someone at the sale told me that it looked like the car had purposefully run over Dino. I do not know, I did not see it.
The owner of the yard sale and several others came up to me consoling me. The lady give me a towel to wrap Dino up in and a box to put him in.
I wrapped him up, put his body in the box, and put him in my truck and started on the 200 mile trip home.
Dino had been with me during my Divorce. He went with me just about everywhere I went. I could take him to Lowe’s, put him on a cart, go about my shopping and he would not move off of the cart if I walked away. Many years after he died, some of the staff at Lowe’s would still ask about him.
If Dino barked once every 2 weeks, it was rare. I would take him to Church with me on Sunday evenings for our singing service and he would set on the back pew with me.
I called my dad and told him what had happened, that Dino had been killed. Dad had someone, I don’t remember who, to dig a grave in our Azalea garden where many of our family pets had been buried over the years. When I got home, I laid his wrapped body in the grave and covered him up, crying the entire time. It has been almost 40 years since I buried him and, to this day, I still miss my Dino. He was the best friend (dog) ever.

06/28/2026

I am Ron Ayers. I run Classic Cars of South Carolina, located about 20 minutes east of Greenville, SC. Several years ago I started writing stories of my life’s adventures. I was sure that my friends and acquaintances might enjoy reading them as much as I enjoyed writing them. I will be posting these chapters on my Classic Cars of SC page over the next few weeks. This is Chapter 48 of my story. I hope each and everyone of you who read these stories will enjoy them. It is finally done. As of June 25th the Land where Classic Cars of SC is located is sold and I will have to clear everything off of the property by the end of February, 2027. I have a LOOOOOOOOOT of vehicles, parts and other stuff to sell or dispose of by then. Drop by my Field of Dreams and make me an offer I can’t refuse on anything here, and it may just become yours. If you, or anyone you know, might be looking for anything that I might have, please, you or have them, contact me at 864-313-2908. I hope you enjoy this chapter as well as the other chapters of my Life’s Stories. Please leave a comment if you enjoyed it. Thanks for reading and may you have a BLESSED day. Ron at classiccarssouthcarolina.com

48) Going through drive thru at McDonalds and Hardees
I love soft serve ice cream. In my opinion, McDonalds has the best soft serve ice cream of any restaurant, but Hardees’ ice cream is a very close second.
I enjoy having fun when I do anything. Many times, when I order my ice cream, I would say “Hello, I am from I. C. E. A., that’s Ice Cream Eaters Anonymous. We're having a contest here in the area today. We are trying to find out which fast food restaurant can serve the largest soft serve ice cream cone, would you like to participate in our contest?” When I would get to the pick up window, I would usually get a cone that looked like it had a quart of ice cream on it.
One time, I asked the question to the order taker and he said, no, I would not like to participate. When I got to the window, he handed me a cone that looked like it had more than a quart of ice cream on it. I have done this dozens of times at different restaurants. I had a lot of fun doing this and I also ate a lot of good ice cream. Try it sometime. Your life will be a lot better by having fun with the people you interact with and it also makes them feel like you gave them a memorable experience by dealing with you.
Maya Angelou once shared what I feel is the greatest advice every person should live their day-to-day life by: “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will NEVER forget how you made them feel.” I try to follow this advice in whatever I do. Maya gives me hope and a reminder that I can do better every day. NOW, it is YOUR turn, go out and make someone feel GREAT, Blessed and Important TODAY.

06/26/2026

I am Ron Ayers. I run Classic Cars of South Carolina, located about 20 minutes east of Greenville, SC. Several years ago I started writing stories of my life’s adventures. I was sure that my friends and acquaintances might enjoy reading them as much as I enjoyed writing them. I will be posting these chapters on my Classic Cars of SC page over the next few weeks. This is Chapter 46 of my story. I hope each and everyone of you who read these stories will enjoy them. It is finally done. As of June 25th the Land where Classic Cars of SC is located is sold and I will have to clear everything off of the property by the end of February, 2027. I have a LOOOOOOOOOT of vehicles, parts and other stuff to sell or dispose of by then. Drop by my Field of Dreams and make me an offer I can’t refuse on anything here, and it may just become yours. If you, or anyone you know, might be looking for anything that I might have, please, you or have them, contact me at 864-313-2908. I hope you enjoy this chapter as well as the other chapters of my Life’s Stories. Please leave a comment if you enjoyed it. Thanks for reading and may you have a BLESSED day. Ron at classiccarssouthcarolina.com

47) Finding a 1957 Chevy Nomad and a 1965 Lemans Convertible in a garage that was falling down
Some time, a few years ago, I had traded for a 1938 Chevrolet coupe that was located in Easley, SC. Where it was located was at the brother-in-law’s home of the owner. The owner had a shop in Myrtle Beach, SC that he had rented out and he had the Chevy moved to Easley where his brother-in-law was going to restore it. There was still a lot of parts for the car stored at the old shop in Myrtle Beach.
One weekend, I asked my wife if she would like to go to the beach with me to pick up these parts. We drove down on Saturday afternoon and had an appointment on Sunday morning to meet with the owner and get the parts. There was a full pickup truck load of parts.
While at the beach, I received a phone call from a lady who asked me if I was interested in buying a couple of cars that were in a building in Columbia SC. She informed me that the building was going to be demolished later that week. She said one of them was a Chevy Wagon, or that was what she called it. She did not know what the other one was. She said they were located in Columbia on Monticello Road.
Since I was going to be going right by Monticello Road on Monday, I made an appointment to meet her at the location on Monday afternoon to look at the vehicles. We met and she showed me the garage that was falling down over the two vehicles. It was in such bad shape that the doors would not even open. I was able to look in the window and there sat a very rare and desirable 57 Chevrolet Nomad station wagon and a 65 Pontiac Lemans.
The Lemans was covered up with a tarp and I could not tell if it was a convertible or a hardtop. I was almost certain that it was a convertible. These 2 vehicles looked like they had been setting in the building for at least 20 to 30 years.
The lady said she was trying to get rid of them for her cousin who was stationed in California. He was getting rid of them because he wanted to demolish the garage and the house setting in front of the garage. I spoke with him on the phone while we were there.
We made an agreement that I would come down with my truck and trailer on Tuesday morning and would purchase the 2 vehicles for $4,000. This was the garage find of the century. On Tuesday morning, I got all kinds of tools and wood together. The wood was to prop up the building so I could break down the doors and retrieve the 2 vehicles. I, and my helper, Bryan, got in my rollback car hauler truck with my trailer behind it and drove to Columbia.
There was road construction going on on I 26. We sat in one spot on the Interstate in a traffic jam for almost 45 minutes. We finally got to the location. There was a mob of people, and I must say, very unhappy people, there at the location.
One unhappy man came up to my window and said in a stern voice, “These cars are NOT for sale” The woman who had gotten me there came up and said we have all the documents to sell the vehicles. Then she and another lady, I am using the word lady very lightly, got in an argument and actually got down on the ground in a fist fight.
I again talked with the person in California and told him what was going on. He said to call the Sheriff. I told him that I was certain that they were already on the way. He again assured me that he had all the documentation to be able to sell the vehicles. Then someone else came up to me and said the owner of the vehicles is on his way down here from Charlotte.
Then, 4 Deputy Sheriffs vehicles pulled up with about 8 deputies. Two of their vehicles had me blocked in. The deputies spoke with several of the people there. They handcuffed the lady who had gotten me there because she had a pistol that she had thrown down on the ground when she got into the fist fight with that other woman.
When I first got there, I had backed my trailer in the front yard of the house and unhooked it. Someone else came up to me and said “Get that trailer off of my property. This is my house.” I again spoke with the person in California who again told me that he had documentation to dispose of the vehicles.
Someone else came up to me and handed me a phone and said “This is the owner of the vehicles, speak with him” He told me that he had owned the two cars since he was 17 years old and he was 69 now. He said they are not for sale. He told me that he had given the property to his son who told him that he was going to build a house on it for him, the dad, to live in for the rest of his life. He said his son had served him with papers about the 2 vehicles.
I finally was able to hook my trailer back up and Bryan and I left in dismay and drove back to Gray Court. We considered ourselves lucky that we did not get beaten up or shot.
I called the lady later that afternoon to find out what had happened. She said that she did not get arrested and was back at home. She told me that she had shown all the paperwork that she had to the deputies and they told her that she had every right to dispose of the vehicles, but I had already gone. She told me that the buildings were going to be demolished on Friday morning.
She said if the vehicles are still there on Friday, she would have them towed to her home and I could pick them up there. I called her back on Friday and she informed me that the vehicles were gone when they got there to demolish the buildings. Bryan and I were lucky that we did not get beaten up or shot in the altercation. Praise God for watching over us that day. It turned out that this was NOT the barn find of the century.

06/25/2026

I am Ron Ayers. I run Classic Cars of South Carolina, located about 20 minutes east of Greenville, SC. Several years ago I started writing stories of my life’s adventures. I was sure that my friends and acquaintances might enjoy reading them as much as I enjoyed writing them. I will be posting these chapters on my Classic Cars of SC page over the next few weeks. This is Chapter 45 of my story. I hope each and everyone of you who read these stories will enjoy them. I am 99% certain that the Land where Classic Cars of SC is located is sold and I will have to clear everything off of the property by February of next year. I have a LOOOOOOOOOT of vehicles and other stuff to sell or dispose of by then. If you, or anyone you know, might be looking for anything that I might have, please, you or have them, contact me at 864-313-2908. I hope you enjoy this chapter as well as the other chapters. Please leave a comment if you enjoyed it. Thanks for reading and may you have a BLESSED day. Ron at classiccarssouthcarolina.com

45) Getting the phone call about Chris being killed on his Harley
On July 17th 2009, I received a phone call at about 3:00 in the morning from the Laurens County Coroner. He ask me if I knew Chris Hooper. Chris was my best friend. I told him that I knew him. He said that my address was on his ID and he had to call a friend of mine up the street, Max W. to get my phone number.
I had met the Coroner a few weeks earlier at Max W’s business up the street from my Shop. The coroner told me that Chris had been killed in Laurens while ridding his Harley Davidson Motorcycle. He told me that Chris’s body was at the Laurens County Hospital and he ask me if I could notify his family.
He said it was apparent that Chris had come around a curve and hit some water in the road. He said Chris lost control and hit a power pole.
I was able to call a mutual friend, Charlie V. who knew how to get in touch with Chris’s sister, Renae, who had just gotten to Myrtle Beach earlier that evening.
I went to the hospital and met with the Coroner. Charlie showed up shortly thereafter. I had called Chris’s girl friend, Joan, and she also came to the Hospital.
We had a funeral a few days later. Chris was laid to rest in the Rocky Creek Baptist church cemetery in a grave plot that my dad had donated. Chris had worked with me for several years. He was such a great support to me going through my divorce. He was also very instrumental in me meeting my wonderful and beautiful wife, Helga. It’s been 17 years now and I still miss him very much. I have so many memories of Chris and the things we did together and the things he did for me.
Chris was a master craftsman at building and fixing things. I know he is probably building or repairing something for Jesus up in Heaven. Chris, may you rest in peace.

06/25/2026

I am Ron Ayers. I run Classic Cars of South Carolina, located about 20 minutes east of Greenville, SC. Several years ago I started writing stories of my life’s adventures. I was sure that my friends and acquaintances might enjoy reading them as much as I enjoyed writing them. I will be posting these chapters on my Classic Cars of SC page over the next few weeks. This is Chapter 46 of my story. I hope each and everyone of you who read these stories will enjoy them. I am 99% certain that the Land where Classic Cars of SC is located is sold and I will have to clear everything off of the property by February of next year. I have a LOOOOOOOOOT of vehicles and other stuff to sell or dispose of by then. If you, or anyone you know, might be looking for anything that I might have, please, you or have them, contact me at 864-313-2908. I hope you enjoy this chapter as well as the other chapters. Please leave a comment if you enjoyed it. Thanks for reading and may you have a BLESSED day. Ron at classiccarssouthcarolina.com

46) I love making my Customers smile and laugh as soon as I can
I feel that buying and selling should be a fun experience for the buyer and the seller. You should make it a fun experience for your customer, that way, he/she will return, hopefully, many times in the future.
I have found that the sooner I can get a customer to smile or laugh when they visit my facility, the lighter the experience will be. The following are some of the fun things I do to lighten up the tension that sometimes can exist in the customer and salesperson experience.
I usually tell just about everyone as soon as I meet them, “We are having a special going on here today. If you find anything at all here today that you like better than your wife’s money and you say all the right words in the right order before you leave, I’ll let you take it home with you.” Sometimes they will ask, “What are the right words?” I will then say “All you need to say is, I want it, no matter what it cost, and this is how I will pay for it, however, there are a few other words that will work.”
Usually, I get a nice smile or laugh from them. If someone asks the question “What is your BOTTOM dollar on that (whatever)?” I respond “I would like for that BOTTOM dollar to be a hundred dollar bill with a lot of other hundred dollar bills stacked on top of it.” If someone asks “What is the best you can do on that (whatever)” I respond “Well let’s see now, I am asking (whatever it is you are asking for it, let‘s just say the price is $2,500.00) for it, I suppose if I got $3,500.00 or maybe $4,000.00 for it, that would be about the best I could ever hope to do on it”
I remember the first time I ever did that was over 35 years ago because we were in my showroom that burned almost 40 years ago. We were looking at a 1930 Model A Ford 2 door sedan. I had my foot propped up on the running board and the customer asked me what was the best I could do on it. I said, “Well, I am asking $4,500 for it, I guess maybe if I got $6,500 or $7,000 for it, that would be about the best I could ever hope to do on it.” He said in kind of a high pitch voice, “No, No, No, that wasn’t what I meant.” We both just started laughing and that lightened up the whole air of negotiation. He didn’t buy it but we got a big laugh out of it. That Model A was one of the cars that burned up when my warehouse burned, December 9th, 1987.
Out of the many years and hundreds of times I have done that since then, I have only had ONE customer who got pi**ed and, luckily, it was during a telephone conversation. He said “I was really interested in that car, but with an attitude like yours, I wouldn’t buy it if it was the last one on earth and he slammed the phone down.” I figure that if your customer doesn’t have a sense of humor, he is not someone you need or want to be doing business with anyway. He can cause you a lot more grief in the long run than any profit you may realize.
I really like making my customers smile or laugh. It makes me feel good. Maya Angelou once shared: “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will NEVER forget how you made them feel.” I try to follow this advice in whatever I do.

06/24/2026

1961 Chevrolet Trucks C10
Miles: 99,999
Price: $2,500

Black 1961 Chevrolet Trucks C10 Short Bed Pickup for sale in Gray Court. Shop Classic Cars of S.C. Inc. for great deals on all our Chevrolet Trucks inventory.

06/24/2026

1964 Ford Falcon
Miles: 99,999
Price: $2,500

Red 1964 Ford Falcon Convertible with Red interior for sale in Gray Court. Shop Classic Cars of S.C. Inc. for great deals on all our Ford inventory.

06/24/2026

I am Ron Ayers. I run Classic Cars of South Carolina, located about 20 minutes east of Greenville, SC. Several years ago I started writing stories of my life’s adventures. I was sure that my friends and acquaintances might enjoy reading them as much as I enjoyed writing them. I will be posting these chapters on my Classic Cars of SC page over the next few weeks. This is Chapter 44 of my story. I hope each and everyone of you who read these stories will enjoy them. I am 99% certain that the Land where Classic Cars of SC is located is sold and I will have to clear everything off of the property by February of next year. I have a LOOOOOOOOOT of vehicles and other stuff to sell or dispose of by then. If you, or anyone you know, might be looking for anything that I might have, please, you or have them, contact me at 864-313-2908. I hope you enjoy this chapter as well as the other chapters. Please leave a comment if you enjoyed it. Thanks for reading and may you have a BLESSED day. Ron at classiccarssouthcarolina.com

44) My Cousin Steve and I going to Myrtle Beach
When I got out of the Navy I bought a beautiful fire-thorn red 1963 Cadillac Convertible. My cousin Steve G. and I decided to go to Myrtle Beach one weekend in my Convertible. We had a great time. We spent a couple of nights there and then headed back home.
We were cruising at about 70 miles per hour and started bearing off of I 26 on to I 385 near Clinton, SC. I 385 is the only exit on I 385 that bears off to the left. Just as we were getting on to I 385, we met a car coming in the wrong direction down 385. Luckily I was in the outside lane when the car passed us. It nearly scared the crap out of me and I suppose Steve also. It was just a little ways away from getting on to I 26 where it would also be heading in the wrong direction, but at least there was an exit just as it got on to I26. I never did hear if it got into a wreck of not.
We drove on to my home on Hwy 14 just outside of Simpsonville. As I topped the hill a few hundred feet before my driveway, I noticed something very strange. My dad was a dealer for a couple of Mobile Home Manufacturing companies out of Laurens County. I had heard that, at one time, there were more Mobile Home manufacturers in Laurens County than any other county in the United States. My dad had 4 mobile homes for sale on the lot, 3 were on the lower side of our driveway and one was on the upper side of our driveway.
Back to the something very strange, the wheels on the mobile home on the upper side of our driveway were up in the air instead of down on the ground where they should be. When we got down to my house my parents told us that a tornado had come through on Saturday afternoon. My mom said it sounded like a train coming right behind the house.
When my dad built our house, he had built a tornado shelter under our carport and that is where my parents went when they heard the tornado coming.
The tornado took part of the roof off of our shop in the back yard. Then it picked up a little aluminum jon boat that was setting beside our lake. The tornado then dragged it down the side of my 65 Mustang. It then set the boat down in our front yard.
Then the tornado changed directions and traveled up to the mobile home. The Tornado picked it up and set it down, upside down, on the fence that was between where the home had been setting and the road.
We know it actually picked up the home and set it down on the fence because several of the fence post were sticking straight up through, what used to be, the ceiling of the mobile home. If the tornado had just rolled the mobile home over, the fence post would have been under the home instead of sticking straight up through what was the roof.
The insurance company settled with my dad and then sold the salvage to Martin Page Auto Parts in Greenville. Several days later, Martin sent a crew down to try to turn the mobile home back over. His crew went inside and put several X braces inside the home.
Then they hooked 2 wreckers up to the frame and started trying to turn it back over on its wheels. It started raising up and when it got just about ready to roll over on its side, all of a sudden, kerplop. It splattered into a million pieces. It took several days for Martin’s crew to clean up the mess. What an ending to a weekend at Myrtle Beach, almost getting killed by a vehicle going in the wrong direction on the Interstate and a Tornado destroying a mobile home plus my Mustang getting damaged.

06/23/2026

I am Ron Ayers. I run Classic Cars of South Carolina, located about 20 minutes east of Greenville, SC. Several years ago I started writing stories of my life’s adventures. I was sure that my friends and acquaintances might enjoy reading them as much as I enjoyed writing them. I will be posting these chapters on my Classic Cars of SC page over the next few weeks. This is Chapter 43 of my story. I hope each and everyone of you who read these stories will enjoy them. I am 99% certain that the Land where Classic Cars of SC is located is sold and I will have to clear everything off of the property by February of next year. I have a LOOOOOOOOOT of vehicles and other stuff to sell or dispose of by then. If you, or anyone you know, might be looking for anything that I might have, please, you or have them, contact me at 864-313-2908. I hope you enjoy this chapter as well as the other chapters. Please leave a comment if you enjoyed it. Thanks for reading and may you have a BLESSED day. Ron at classiccarssouthcarolina.com

43) Second anniversary trip to Six Flags
In 1983 my wife, Cheryl, and I decided to go to Six Flags in Atlanta to celebrate our second anniversary. We invited a friend, David P. and his fiance, Suzzie T. to go with us. David actually worked for me at the time but we were good friends.
We drove to Atlanta and got 2 motel rooms near Six Flags. We went to Six Flags on Saturday and had a wonderful time. We rode many of the rides.
We decided to go on the Mine Train Roller Coaster. There were some clouds in the sky but we didn’t think much about it. The train pulled out of the station and started going up one of it’s hills and around a curve and back down. It leveled out for a few feet and started up another hill, when, all of a sudden, big chunks of hail started falling out of the sky. Then, to make things worse, the power went out.
We were stranded, strapped in, in a roller coaster train car with hail balls the size of ping pong balls, well they seemed that big, maybe they were only the size of marbles, falling and hitting us in the head. Then, to make bad things worse, it started raining. We crouched down in the car as low as we could get with our hands over our heads to protect us.
It seemed like we sat there in the hail storm for close to 15 minutes before the power came back on and the train started moving. The train completed it’s trip and went down into the mine and came back out before coming to a stop where we started the trip. We were drenched when we got out of the roller coaster car. That was certainly an anniversary to remember.
David and Suzzie finally got married, however, Suzzie passed away a few years later. It was a life that left this world way too soon.

06/22/2026

I am Ron Ayers. I run Classic Cars of South Carolina, located about 20 minutes east of Greenville, SC. Several years ago I started writing stories of my life’s adventures. I was sure that my friends and acquaintances might enjoy reading them as much as I enjoyed writing them. I will be posting these chapters on my Classic Cars of SC page over the next few weeks. This is Chapter 42 of my story. I hope each and everyone of you who read these stories will enjoy them. I am 99% certain that the Land where Classic Cars of SC is located is sold and I will have to clear everything off of the property by February of next year. I have a LOOOOOOOOOT of vehicles and other stuff to sell or dispose of by then. If you, or anyone you know, might be looking for anything that I might have, please, you or have them, contact me at 864-313-2908. I hope you enjoy this chapter as well as the other chapters. Please leave a comment if you enjoyed it. Thanks for reading and may you have a BLESSED day. Ron at classiccarssouthcarolina.com

42) Bill Edwards and I going to Canada
In the late 70’s, a friend of mine, Bill E., in Winston Salem, NC found 2 Coffin Nose Cord convertibles for sale in Greensboro, NC. They were nicknamed Coffing Nose because the front end of the car looked a coffin. One of them had been in a fire. They were true barn finds.
The Cord automobile was built by the Auburn, Cord, Duesenburg company in Auburn Indiana. The Cord was a front wheel drive car with hide away headlights, an electric shifter and several other state of the art features. Cord built 2 different convertible models, one, a 4 passenger version, was called a Phaeton and the other one, a 2 passenger model, was called a Sportsman. Bill and I partnered together and bought the 2 Cords.
Back then, the major means of national and international advertising was a magazine called Hemmings Motor News. Hemmings was consider to be the Bible of the old car industry. In any given year, I would sell at least 70% of my vehicles through Hemmings. The bad thing about print advertising is the lead time it takes to get your items in the hands of the public. It was usually a little more than 2 weeks from the time you had to get your ads in the mail to meet the advertising deadline, then get the magazine printed and mailed to the subscriber so he could read the ads.
Today, with the internet, I have had situations where I was posting several ads at a time and got an inquiry on the first ad before I got the third ad posted. That is quick.
Back to our Cords, I advertised them in Hemmings and ended up selling them to a customer in London, Ontario, Canada. I agreed to deliver them to him. Bill wanted to go with me. He drove down from Winston Salem. We loaded the 2 Cords on my truck and trailer and we headed to Canada. We crossed into Canada in Port Huron, Michigan.
I had a little 22 caliber pistol that I carried with me at the time. I saw signs that it was illegal to carry a gun into Canada so I left it at the border crossing with instructions that I would pick it up when I came back across the border.
Bill and I headed out through the beautiful Canadian countryside on the way to London. I remember seeing an owl setting on a limb in a tree about a couple of hundred feet off of the road. This bird looked like it was 2 feet tall. It was the biggest owl I had ever seen.
We finally got to the purchasers site in London and delivered the 2 Cords to him. He was very satisfied with the 2 vehicles. He paid us the balance that he owed and we headed back to the Port Huron border crossing to pick up my pistol and get back into the good ole US of A.
I had to jump through a bunch of hoops to get my pistol back. It took more than 30 minutes to answer all of the questions and retrieve my gun. Then we were on our way.
We got out of Michigan and proceeded down through Indiana. It started snowing. An hour or so later, we decided that we needed to find a Motel to stop at and spend the night before the roads got to bad from the snow. We finally found a small Motel off of an exit and checked in.
I took a shower and then Bill started to take one. Half way through his shower, he ran out of hot water and had to rinse off with cold water. It looked like there was only a 5 gallon water heater under the lavatory in the bath room.
We had a good bit of cash that we had gotten for the 2 Cords. We divided our money up.
The next morning we got up and looked out the window. There was about 6 inches of snow on the ground. We were in a state where they have plenty of equipment to keep the roads clean and the roads had already been cleared. We went outside and started my truck so it could be warming up before we got on the road. The people in the room next to us where already outside getting ready to leave. The man said “We heard you guys counting your money last night”. I told him what we had done. We then got on the road and headed back to South Carolina.