by Martin St. Romain

I was pretty much born into the car hobby in 1945. As a kid I was raised in New Orleans until age 12 and my Catholic godfather, Pierre Chivé of Canada, was the owner of the Studebaker dealership in downtown New Orleans. This man made such an impression in my life that I still relive some of the experiences in my mind. He always referred to cars as automobiles.

He customized brand new Studes. We would ride in the Mardi Gras parades, and I will always remember the first time we went over the (then new) Claiborne overpass doing 120mph in a 1957 Golden Hawk. My dad was also a great car guy and taught me so much as we worked side-by-side changing and rebuilding engines in my teen years. We always had a project car; my dad could fix anything!

In 1965 I bought my own muscle car, a 1965 Olds 442 four speed convertible. Although I no longer own it, I now own a car exactly like it. I now know that only 1,765 four speed convertibles were made, and mine is one of the few in the world remaining with all matching numbers. I looked for this car for the last 15 years and found it in ‘Hemmings Motor News’ and had the car trucked down from Lancing, MI where it was built.

In 1976, I bought an extremely rare 1972 Triumph Stag and kept it until 2002 when my dad, who just loved the car, had a crash in it. I had this car when I lived in Las Vegas and I would drive it almost every day at speeds of 140 to 160mph. Seldom would there be any other cars on these roads. Back then Nevada only had speed limits within the city limits, and I was driving in the surrounding areas and in the desert. However, that’s when the 70s gas crunch came and the 55mph speed limit went into effect across the nation. Shortly after that, I was stopped on a high desert road by a state police helicopter doing 145mph. We talked a while and he let me go without a ticket but my penance was to drive the 60 miles back to Vegas doing 55mph. What a drag!

In October of 2002 my wife Linda and I got into the old car hobby while attending Cruisin’ the Coast in Mississippi. Since then, we have purchased two 1963 Studebaker GT Hawks (one had an R1 Avanti racing engine), a 1965 Cutlass and an Oldsmobile 442. I am crazy about my 442.

Sadly, in January of this year, I crashed and totaled my Stude while having a sneezing attack. I wasn’t injured physically but it still hurts mentally as I miss it so much. My Antique license plate read STU BAD. How ironic!

My daily driver is a Mercedes-Benz that I restored to original condition. I am the second owner of the 1991 500 SL Roadster, and it looks just about brand new. It’s by far the most expensive car that I ever restored, but there’s too much money in it to quit now.

Until next time, “Keep em between da ditches wit da shiny side up.” PoV