Embarrassed to ride in a classic

Re: Dan Neil’s auto column: “When clunkers become classics,” Aug. 21:

Your column reminded me of the early 1980s when my father would give me and my siblings a ride (maybe three times per school year) to St. Monica High School in Santa Monica from our home in Venice. Clad in plaid pajamas, semi-ratty bath robe and slippers, with his remaining hair and professorial beard askew, he would drop us off in the driveway -- right next to the school’s main entrance.

Stunned with embarrassment -- as his 1962 Chevy Nova II convertible, with the top down, had yet to become a “classic” -- we slunk out of the car, desperately trying to mix with the throng of snickering students, only to hear him toot the horn several times and shout his goodbyes.

Now people compliment his car all the time and my own covetous glances can’t be subtle. Who would have thought?

Frederic E. Bloomquist

San Pedro