Dana Bennett
PCS Life Member
this started out as a reply to a craigslist posting of a '67 flowercar but after part way through writting it I thought maybe i should just post it here, makes more sence and I'm sure others have had and shared their stories of the one they LET get away!! I hope you enjoy my story!!
Dana.
hmm, makes me cringe seeing these years of Superior Flower Cars!! because I really DO like them, especially the rear side window and the up top rear window!!
It makes me cringe because I almost owned one, CHEAP!!!!
I have always liked flowercars after first seeing some in Buffalo in the early 90's at "Chicken Man" Jim Hinmans place. I particularly liked a '67 Superior he had there.
fast forward to spring 2003, a friend who worked at one of the places I delivered to in Jamestown, NY told me that a friend of his dads was selling off some of his cars and a flowercar just happened to be one of them!!
I went and looked and liked it a LOT!! It was actually the very same car I had seen/liked at Chicken Mans, a '67 Superior Flower Car. Mostly all complete except for a hood, was semi rusty-semi solid but certainly needed work, but it was a perfectly good car to be restored as it was worthy of it!!
Unfortunately the day I went with my friend tim (I with cash in hand) to look the car over and pay for it (because I just HAD to have it!!!) I took a while mulling it over, looked here and there at the car over and over and ended up trying to make a "rational" decision rather than just "I HAVE TO HAVE IT!! I WANT IT!!!" and eventually decided that it needed more work than I could do or afford and since I had just bought my house a little over 2 years earlier (which also by the way needs TONS of work!!) and didn't have my barn restored as it is now and didn't yet have my fenced parking lot that I just couldn't do it. i was worried about neighbors complaining about another car sitting outside and such, stress I didn't need. So i passed on the deal, sadly.
Oh, and the deal was both the flowercar AND a decent condition '67 Cadillac 4 door for $500.00!!! Yup, basically could have had a flowercar I really liked the style of for $250.00!!!!! try finding THAT deal again!!!!
HOWEVER!! I DID pass along the information on the old website when this happened and someone (Unfortunately I can not remember his name, but he was VERY nice!! he really liked flowercars and had a VERY nice flatbed transporter!!) out of I think Kansas maybe?? contacted me and I shared all my info with him. He did contact Terri Tollman who owned the car but just was unable to get a deal done, Terri was quite a bit upset that I didn't buy the cars and I believe Terri passed away not too long afterwards, I believe health problems were WHY he was selling his cars.
( interesting tidbit- the '72 C/B oldsmobile hearse I just got rid of last year after having it for MANY years also passed thru Terri's hands several years before i got it from someone else!! Small world!! He was a bit surprised when I was showing him a couple photos of cars i owned to see one HE had owned!)
My oldest brother Steve passed away a few months later and I just lost interest for a while in anything. I do not know what ever became of this flowercar, most likely scraped, and like I said, although it was a little rough (remember I am in NY) it was worth of a restoration!.
I do have a couple pictures but they are not scanned on the computer, but they are in an album I will bring to Hudson!!
anyways, sory it's so long and rambling but thats my story of the one car I LET get away that I regret!!
hope someone finds this at least a little interesting and shares more of the one they LET get away!!
Dana Bennett.
Forestville, NY
Dana.
hmm, makes me cringe seeing these years of Superior Flower Cars!! because I really DO like them, especially the rear side window and the up top rear window!!
It makes me cringe because I almost owned one, CHEAP!!!!
I have always liked flowercars after first seeing some in Buffalo in the early 90's at "Chicken Man" Jim Hinmans place. I particularly liked a '67 Superior he had there.
fast forward to spring 2003, a friend who worked at one of the places I delivered to in Jamestown, NY told me that a friend of his dads was selling off some of his cars and a flowercar just happened to be one of them!!
I went and looked and liked it a LOT!! It was actually the very same car I had seen/liked at Chicken Mans, a '67 Superior Flower Car. Mostly all complete except for a hood, was semi rusty-semi solid but certainly needed work, but it was a perfectly good car to be restored as it was worthy of it!!
Unfortunately the day I went with my friend tim (I with cash in hand) to look the car over and pay for it (because I just HAD to have it!!!) I took a while mulling it over, looked here and there at the car over and over and ended up trying to make a "rational" decision rather than just "I HAVE TO HAVE IT!! I WANT IT!!!" and eventually decided that it needed more work than I could do or afford and since I had just bought my house a little over 2 years earlier (which also by the way needs TONS of work!!) and didn't have my barn restored as it is now and didn't yet have my fenced parking lot that I just couldn't do it. i was worried about neighbors complaining about another car sitting outside and such, stress I didn't need. So i passed on the deal, sadly.
Oh, and the deal was both the flowercar AND a decent condition '67 Cadillac 4 door for $500.00!!! Yup, basically could have had a flowercar I really liked the style of for $250.00!!!!! try finding THAT deal again!!!!
HOWEVER!! I DID pass along the information on the old website when this happened and someone (Unfortunately I can not remember his name, but he was VERY nice!! he really liked flowercars and had a VERY nice flatbed transporter!!) out of I think Kansas maybe?? contacted me and I shared all my info with him. He did contact Terri Tollman who owned the car but just was unable to get a deal done, Terri was quite a bit upset that I didn't buy the cars and I believe Terri passed away not too long afterwards, I believe health problems were WHY he was selling his cars.
( interesting tidbit- the '72 C/B oldsmobile hearse I just got rid of last year after having it for MANY years also passed thru Terri's hands several years before i got it from someone else!! Small world!! He was a bit surprised when I was showing him a couple photos of cars i owned to see one HE had owned!)
My oldest brother Steve passed away a few months later and I just lost interest for a while in anything. I do not know what ever became of this flowercar, most likely scraped, and like I said, although it was a little rough (remember I am in NY) it was worth of a restoration!.
I do have a couple pictures but they are not scanned on the computer, but they are in an album I will bring to Hudson!!
anyways, sory it's so long and rambling but thats my story of the one car I LET get away that I regret!!
hope someone finds this at least a little interesting and shares more of the one they LET get away!!
Dana Bennett.
Forestville, NY