This ’63 Classic Answers to ‘Emily’

Most young women who look like Heather Grook come to L.A. with the idea of breaking into “the industry.” But this 27-year-old Norfolk, Va., native is having none of that. She is trying to break into . . . the L.A. Unified School District? “I love teaching,” says Grook, who has an art history degree from Old Dominion University and is working as a fitting model and substitute teacher while preparing for a credential program.

And she knows a good used car when she sees one. Grook’s ’63 Nash Rambler (Emily, by name) came to her through serendipity as much as through quick thinking. “I was living in San Francisco at the time and I was doing volunteer work at this nursing home. I was planning on moving here. And these four sisters, who had never married and never split up (some sort of ‘Virgin Suicides’ thing), were coming in, and they had no use for it. I got it for $1,000. It was already named Emily, and it had like 35,000 miles on it. It runs like a dream.”

Emily is more than just transportation, says Grook. “She suits me. She’s no frills, very straightforward. She doesn’t even have an FM radio. It’s Frank Sinatra or talk radio.” Grook’s car is a good fit aesthetically, too. “I like to mix vintage and modern,” says Grook, whose Los Feliz apartment is eclectically furnished in a mix of styles from Art Deco to Danish Modern. For this picture, she’s outfitted in a Tim Remi top for Swann, vintage skirt and Michael Kors high-heeled clogs. “I don’t dress to fit into the car, but I can look like a schoolteacher in the morning--plaid skirts, knee socks, hair in a bun, Miss Crabtree, and I can go out looking like [Velvet Underground chanteuse] Nico at night if I want to.”

Nico notwithstanding, Grook, like Emily, likes life in the slower lane. “New cars are easier to drive,” she admits, “but Emily suits me. I have to be content with 70 mph, tops.”