Rainy Day Memories

 It was a rainy Thursday in Alabama, and I was happy.  I love rainy days whereas most people become depressed.  I have a dear friend in Demopolis, Alabama that gets very depressed when it rains.  She told me that when it rains, she thinks how much I enjoy it, and she becomes more depressed because I love it.

One of my favorite things is to take my old 1977 GMC pickup, nicknamed Gymmie, for a ride.  There is something magical and hypnotic about riding in the rain.  It is the rhythm of the windshield wipers as they repeal the precious jewels of heaven falling on the glass.  Then there is the flutter of angel wings as the dual glass pack exhaust sings a lullaby that will send passengers into a wonderful sleep.  

As I spend a few precious moments of my being in Gymmie, I thought of the 48 years that I have driven the old truck and the special stories Gymmie could tell.   Yesterday was special because it was my youngest son’s 38^th birthday.

For the first three years of his life, he did not sleep all night.  After working midnights at the cement plant, his mother demanded that I get Aaron out of the house where she could get a few moments of sleep.  I would lay him in the seat beside me, this was pre car seat days, and before we got a mile down the road, he would be asleep.

Aaron loved Gymmie.  He loved it so much that when the seat became ragged, a cousin of mine did some work on Gymmie and replaced the seat with one identical.  Aaron was a teenager and was not happy until I retrieved the old seat and placed it back in the truck.  The seat had worn spots created by our rear ends!

Aaron and I spent many hours riding in Gymmie.  When he got in trouble with his older brother and sister and mom, I would take him and console him and prepare him for life.  When he left home and finally moved away to Texas, I thanked God for the special moments that I encouraged him on life’s journey.

Around 2013, Aaron and I started rebuilding Gymmie.  His older brother had totaled Gymmie 1988, and we renamed it Joseph because Gymmie had a “coat of many colors” as did Joseph in the Bible.  Front fenders, front bumper, and hood were demolished when striking a pecan tree in the front yard. 

We drove it for several months with no hood, a primed right fender, and deer rammed left fender.  I did get a rusty hood from a junk truck at the cement plant.  Aaron only knew the wrecked Gymmie.  Gymmie was so bad that a preacher friend once asked, “Was anyone killed in the wreck?”  Aaron and I quizzed, “What wreck?”  The “so called friend” grinning said, “The one y’all got out of!”

Aaron and I stripped Gymmie to the frame giving it new life.  We changed broken and worn-out parts.  We repaired the interior first with new seat covers, new dash, and all the components that made it brand new inside.

We purchased new fenders, hood, doors, chrome, grill, tailgate, and bed panels.  I had a friend give Gymmie a professional paint job.  The pickup that I could not give away suddenly became the object of lust for boys and men.  We transformed a junker into a show truck.  It is not a show truck.  Aaron and I did not want a “trailer queen” but a truck we could drive.  To put the finishing touch on it we had the engine and transmission rebuilt.

The most asked question is, “Is it for sale?”  I say, “No.”  Some are very persistent.  They have made some very tempting offers but I say, “You will have to get on a very long waiting list.”  Some say every man has a price.  I tell folks that I have promised it to Aaron.  It is my gift to him for all the memories of our lasting impressions, “our butts”, and other times that rainy days help create and keep our hearts joined.  Happy Birthday son.

One day Aaron can give it to his son Jack Barrett Hopper.

The Bible has 139 scriptures on the begats.  Here is a look at our heritage since coming from Scotland:

Thomas Hopper, b. 1747, Amherst County, VA; d. 1837, Oglethorpe County, GA     

Rolly Hopper, b. 1775, Amherst Co., VA; d. 1860, Elbert Co.

Mitchell Brady Hopper, b. 1816 or 1817, Oglethorpe County, GA; d. about 1857 in Perry County, AL

William Hopson Hopper, b. August 24, 1853, in Perry County, AL; d. September 9, 1935, Lawley, AL

Mitchell Clark Hopper, b. December 7, 1887, at Lawley, Bibb County, AL; d. March 30, 1935, Lawley, AL

Mitchell Clark Hopper, Jr., b. April 9, 1924, in Waycross, GA; d. April 27, 1994, Jemison, AL

Bobby Earl Hopper, b. December 13, 1952, in Clanton, AL

Aaron Christopher Hopper, b. May 29, 1987, in Birmingham, AL

Jack Barrett Hopper, b. July 19, 2023, in Baytown, TX

 

When people inquire of Gymmie I tell them that it is a labor of love of Father and Son.  Gymmie is a reminder that the Love of The Father and Sacrifice of His Son can transform and give new life the life’s wrecks.

Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 2 Corinthians 5:17 KJV

Restoration

 I own a 1950 Plymouth Special Deluxe.  People are always asking, “What is it and what year is it?”  It is a beautiful automobile.  Another question asked is, “Can I take some pictures of it?”  Usually the photographers are women.  Young women, most often Hispanic, want their picture taken with it.  I tell them go ahead.  I do worry about their boyfriends.

Lots of men my age salivate and drool and have to see under the hood.  Young hot rodder give a thumb’s up, blink their headlights, or try to buy it.  I tell them it is not for sale then they offer a ridiculous low price.  I usually them that their will buy them a look or the offer might get you the wheels.  Old timers say, “You got a lot of money tied up in the car.”  Some will ask where I found it and bought it. 

As of this article, I have been driving the Plymouth over sixty years.  That’s right.  I started driving it when I was twelve.  Mama taught me to drive it.  Back then it had a flathead six-cylinder engine, a three on the tree shifter, and a clutch.  I can still hear mama fussing and sometimes cussing me when releasing the clutch and the Plymouth hopping and jumping.  

Trying to shift from first gear to second was even more exciting.  I kept trying to shift it up and going into reverse.  The grinding sound was loud, but momma was louder.  I knew how to shift our Farmall Cub tractor.  It was a stick shift on the left with the gears marked and moved a whole lot slower.  I eventually got the hang of and started driving it. 

The Plymouth has been in the family since 1957.  Mamma’s brother worked was a body shop in Brent, Alabama.  I never knew what Uncle Gerald did in repairing it.  I never found any evidence of a collision.  He sold to his dad, my Grandpaw Chapman.  It was baby blue, two-door sedan.  My fondest memories are Grandpaw driving the Plymouth to our house on Saturday mornings brings us groceries because dad was out of work, which meant out money and out of food.  The Plymouth was quiet and sounded like a Singer sewing machine running.

Grandpaw became disabled due to his age and could not drive anymore, and daddy bought the Plymouth from him.  Daddy drove it to work each day for a few years.  The Plymouth had approximately six-eight thousand miles on it when a rod started knocking in the flathead.   Daddy asked, “Do you want a car?”  Boy did I.  Hot Rod magazines tantalized and owning a car was dreams come true for this fourteen old.  You read that right, 14.

Plymouth behind me

We had used the Plymouth for everything one would use a farm pickup to do.  We hauled firewood in the trunk.  Pulled farm equipment and pulled logs using chains connected to the bumpers.  We used the bumpers push and pull a wide variety of stuff.  There were bent, gouged, and scraped.

I started driving the Plymouth to school, to the store, and to church.  I bussed football players home, drove girlfriends' home, and when I got a driver’s license, I drove it to work at Hiwassee Land Company for two summers.  The first summer I earned enough to paint the Plymouth crystal blue on honor of Tommy James’ song “Crystal Blue Persuasion.” I drove it to the prom with plastic over the passenger window.   The second summer I had rolled and tucked interior installed.

During the years between age fourteen and eighteen, I replaced the flathead with one from a 1953 Plymouth Coronet.  I replaced the transmission and rear end, never bought new tires.  I never had the front end aligned.  I bought old junk Plymouths for ten to twenty dollars and used the good tires from them or picked up good ones in trash dumps.

When I graduated and later married, I drove it to work.  I drag raced it when challenged.  The brakes were bad, and it would not start when hot.  We always had to push it a few a few feet, jump inside, push the clutch, shift in first gear, and pop the clutch.  When it rained, was foggy, or a rat peed on the distributor it would not start.  My hot rod dream was to build it up from the ground up. 

Back in July 2012 our house in Jemison, Alabama burned.  I was Director of Missions in Linden two hours away.  Angela, my daughter, had the fire department pull the Plymouth out of basement storage and away from the house before it completely burned.  That’s when I carried the Plymouth to Linden and started six years of restoration.

Because the Plymouth was so unfaithful, I had named her Jezebel.  After the fire and restoration, I named her Phenix in honor of the mythical bird that rose from the ashes.  Phenix has a 5.7 Dodge hemi engine and automatic transmission, fat boy front end, 9” Mustang rear end, four-wheel disc brakes, high end vinyl bucket seats, power tinted windows, chrome mag wheels and tires, and painted Porsche Meteor Grey.

A family heirloom

The Phenix is a conversational starter.  It is an opportunity to tell of God’s transformational power.  It is a display of how something can change when loved and given a new start.  That’s what God does with us.

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new (I Corinthians 5:17 KJV)

Now for a little Bible humor:

What automobile does God drive?

Plymouth Fury - Behold, I will gather them out of all countries, whither I have driven them in mine anger, and in my fury (Jeremiah 32:37 KJV)

What was the official car of the early Christians?

Honda Accord - And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all in one accord in one place (Acts 2:1 KJV)