Hello, Our Westside of Long Beach neighbor had a good paying job for a teenager. So, he was stock piling up to buy a nice car. We talked about the various kinds and he wanted something like my brother’s Impala for cruising around with his friends. But, he was stuck on getting a new one and quickly. He did not want to take the bus to his after school job and/or activities on the weekends. He came home one day from the local auto dealership sales lot row, near our high school. The car he bought was definitely a surprise. It was a nice looking new design that no one else we knew had one. No one in our neighborhood had one, either, as most families had big 4 door sedans or station wagons. So, it was his choice as to the style and ability to be economical, as well as being able to go just about anywhere with friends, 4 doors and all. Jnaki So, what did he do to add a little pizazz to his new Corvair sedan? In Junior H.S. since we were both in our favorite class, “Crafts and Jewelry” plus the teacher was a custom car nut, we had made a lot of variations of custom knobs for the door locks, the radio and other levers. They were one of the most popular projects from a list of projects for a grade. They were cut, machined and put together from the glued, colorful clear plastic pieces. If the final location required a thread for attachment, the projects got a thread that could be seen through the clear plastic pieces. As it was, we had a small box of matching knobs for his radio, his turn signals and even the funky shift lever, as well as matching door lock caps. similar in style and looks. P.S. He was the only one with these knobs and it looked rather cool, as a custom car addition. He was not a drag race guy, so his 4 door Corvair was a cool cruiser. He eventually bought a set of chrome wheels and it was a long lasting car for his needs. After high school, we would still see it parked in his driveway as we visited our mom’s house, next door. Cool memories of an unusual mild custom car for the times and limited teenage budget. In our high school machine shop, we were able to make not plastic ones, but several machined cast aluminum ones to fit the radio knobs and door locks with smooth sides to prevent window thefts. The little door lock attachments made the interior sleek and did its intended job of keeping those coat hangers useless. But we kept the white ball on the Impala stick shift lever. That was too classic to get rid of at the time. YRMV
The Jalopy Journal
