MEMORIES - OUR FAMILY CAR - "THE FORTY"

May 5, 2018
3 min read

I'll begin this blog by saying I owned this 1940 Chevrolet Special Deluxe for 56 years. After all those years I sold it on May 5, 2016. It holds a very special place in the memory of not only me, but my entire family, and we think of it as The Forty.

I purchased the car for $100 in May 1960. It had been owned by my friend Chuck during high school and I knew it was a really good car. When I purchased the car I was chasing around with my friends Covert, Mike and Ted who all drove Corvette's, and my car became known as the '40 Corvette (later shortened to just The Forty). In January 1961 I drove the Forty to Aspen, Colorado on a ski trip, with a return home via Phoenix, Arizona. A long trip for such an old car, but I had no concerns about it and had no problems. Photo below is at my "ski-bum" hotel in Aspen.

"Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl,

is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves."

~Albert Einstein

After returning from the Aspen trip and completing a non-serious quarter of school at USU, I began courting Bonnie Hicken. I had a ski boat and we spent a lot of time driving around in The Forty, particularly back and forth through Logan Canyon pulling the boat to Bear Lake. Below are photos of Bonnie on the boat and The Forty at Covert's Sinclair Service Station where I proposed marriage to Bonnie while we were washing the car.

Click Photo to Enlarge - Use Arrows for Next Photo

Bonnie and I were married in October 1961 and drove The Forty to Elko, Nevada on our honeymoon. Our first daughter, Jenny, arrived in November 1963. We brought her home from the Logan Hospital in The Forty and at my parents home took the photo below of four generations - her dad, her great grandmother Hadfield, and her grandfather Hadfield.

We moved to California in 1964 and when we returned to Utah for a visit in 1965 we took The Forty back to California to be used as our second car. Bonnie finally had transportation other than walking while I was at work.

The Forty stayed with us from our apartment in South Pasadena, to our first home in San Gabriel, to the family home on Alta Vista in Monrovia. We lived at Alta Vista for 27 years where the Forty had it's own garage and we took it for occasional rides. Below Tracy and Heather are using the front bumper as a rest spot.

When I began downsizing as I thought about retirement, I began selling the collector cars I had and real estate properties we had accumulated. In 1994, after having The Forty for 34 years, I talked to Dale about him taking it - i.e. kind of keeping it in the family instead of selling it to just anyone. He was interested in The Forty as a "project car" so we struck a deal; I would sell it to him for one dollar, if he would not turn it into a hot rod and if he would give me the first chance to buy it back if he decided to sell.

Dale did a wonderful job of restoring the Forty. It had always been a good "driver" but he reconditioned it completely; worked on the engine, new wiring, new upholstery, refurbished the dash and window moldings to original wood-grain, new paint, etc. etc. By 2002 Dale had completed the "Forty Project" and was looking for something else to work on. Rather than have him sell the car to a stranger, we worked out a deal for me to buy it back.

It was fun to have The Forty back in my hands, and particularly in such great shape. I immediately entered it into a Pasadena Chevrolet Car Show and won first prize! When Heather and Sean were married in 2004, Heather decided to have The Forty as an accessory at her wedding and reception.

In May 2016, after having The Forty in our family for 56 years, I decided to do some more downsizing and sold the car on Ebay to a guy in Connecticut who was very excited to have it. The photo below is our family as we said goodby to The Forty.

There are a significant number of interesting stories about activities when The Forty was present, including The California Trip (Chuck owned it at that time), The Aspen/Phoenix Trip, Covert's Tour of Logan Main Street, The Run-Away to Santa Barbara, Bonnie's Meeting of her Future Mother-in-Law, Deer Cliff Dinner with the Wilsons, etc. etc. Lots of good memories.

Below are a few photos that show the fabulous job that Dale did in reconditioning the car.