McClendon Studios Presents: Mr.Henry and Cars

McClendon Studios Presents:

Mr. Henry and Cars

Suzanne learned to drive from her cousin and me.  I would take her out to try driving and Suzanne would be very uncomfortable with it.  After a great deal of getting used to it, Suzanne was able to become one with the vehicle.

It always seemed like Suzanne had this extra sense that could feel that something was off with a car. She can get in a car and say that it feels like one of the tires is low.  I’ll put the air gauge to the tires and find that one of them is about a pound low.  When I inflate it, Suzanne will no longer have that feeling.

Throughout the years, Suzanne has driven many cars.  Back when we had the Western Auto Store, we would often have to drive customers' cars.  Suzanne could tell in an instant if something was wrong with a car.

Evidently, Suzanne inherited this knack for knowing cars from her Daddy. He was one of only two mechanics I would trust with my brakes.  He was also one of the few mechanics who would come to the store when fixing a car who did not have to come back for more parts.  He always knew what was wrong with the cars he was working on.

Papa Jim had once owned his own mechanic shop where he worked on cars as a side line. According to his friends, he always had more work than he could do and could have made a great business out of it, if he had wanted.

We had a team of great mechanics who worked for us.  One had been a mechanic since he was knee high to a bullfrog.  He was the only mechanic I would let work on Suzanne’s car if it was not under warranty and the other mechanic I would let work on my brakes.

He knew cars.   He had that ear where he could hear from a mile away what was wrong with a car. Often Suzanne would pull up into the parking lot at the store and this mechanic would grab a service order and fill it in knowing Suzanne’s car would be in his shop shortly.

My father had a car dealership that he always dealt with. Claude Ray Ford in Elberton, Georgia, had earned Papa’s trust years ago and he bought all his cars from Mr. Ray.  He bought many of these sight unseen.

Most of the cars in the store’s fleet of 13 cars and 13 trucks had been purchased from Claude Ray.  Several of these were still in warranty, including Suzanne’s car.

Since it was in warranty, we would take Suzanne’s car to Claude Ray for service.  We would leave the car with “Mr. Henry” who, I believe, was Claude Ray’s brother, Henry Ray.  Mr. Henry would provide a loaner car for Suzanne since her car was “Mission Critical” to McClendon Company Incorporated and its affiliated business, Western Auto Associate Store-Iva and McClendon Rental. 

Suzanne had the knack.  Sometimes she would crank the loaner car and get out and go tell Mr. Henry that something was wrong with the loaner car. He would send his mechanic to get the car and low and behold, there was always something wrong with it.

One day we dropped off Suzanne’s car for service.  We had an appointment in Atlanta, GA, later that day so I told Mr. Henry we needed to make sure we had a reliable car.  Mr. Henry said, “I ALWAYS give you a reliable car”.

This car broke down in downtown Atlanta.  A man, who looked like he had just killed his parents, approached and offered to help.  We got the car "Redneck engineered” and he said, “Get your *** out of here.  You got no business being in this part of town”.  As it turns out, where we broke down was just minutes away from a minor riot.

On another occasion, Mr. Henry had three of his best mechanics go over a current year’s Ford Grenada.  He told them to take it all the way apart if they had to so that the car would be in perfect shape for Suzanne.

Suzanne picked up the car and then later Suzanne and a friend of ours went to pick up something at the friend’s house.  They took the back way through a less than desirable neighborhood. 

The car, which had been looked over and certified by not one, but three Ford Certified “Factory Trained” mechanics, broke down in that neighborhood.  It broke a timing chain.   As most of you know, this is extremely rare in a car that was less than six months old and still had the original factory warranty.

One mechanic said Mr. Ray told them that anyone who worked on the loaner car that Suzanne was going to get would get a steak dinner for him and his wife if Suzanne did not find anything wrong with it.

Mr. Henry told my father, “If I ever take a car in trade that I am the least bit unsure about, I am going to pay your daughter-in-law to drive it for the day.  If she doesn’t feel like something is wrong, or it don’t break down on her, I will put a Su-Dee-Lu Certificate of Excellence on it and sell it for top dollar. I will know it is a reliable car." 

Papa Bruce was the only one who called Suzanne Su-Dee_Lu, but he and Mr. Henry talked about her so much that Mr. Henry thought that was her “sho nuff" name, as we used to say.

Papa Bruce died shortly after that.  Mr. Henry never needed Suzanne to test a car for him, but he was serious. He told Papa he already had what the sticker would look like in his mind.

Visit My Child-Bride Suzanne’s Blog

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Our Wedding 3 November 1984

Wedding Bells 1984
 

You have read how Suzanne and I finally got together to start dating and how Papa proposed.  Now read about our wedding day.

We were married 3 November 1984, at 4:00 PM, at Boulevard Baptist Church. Suzanne and I had planned on a day in September (13^th) and to have it at Flat Rock Baptist Church. 

The reason the date changed is, basically, Suzanne and I got very little say in our wedding. My mother suggested that we talk to Mrs. Sharpe in Columbia about the wedding because she was a wedding professional.

Mrs. Sharpe suggested that it be on a day when neither Clemson nor Carolina had home football games.  As it turned out, we did schedule around the home football games. It did not matter; some of the guests were listening to the game on the radio while waiting for the wedding to start.

The wedding was nice, but Suzanne did not get to pick the color she wanted for the bridesmaids' dresses. She did not get to choose anything really. The only thing I got to choose was the tuxes. We had the Ronald Reagan Day Coat.

The day before the wedding, Suzanne fell down the back steps at the house and hurt herself pretty badly. She was sore the day (and night) of the wedding.

We had the rehearsal dinner at the Best Western University Inn. On the way home from the rehearsal, I was driving the 1965 Ford Galaxy.  My father was riding shotgun. A car pulled up beside us and was horsing the engine, challenging us to a race.

I thought my father would be upset if I raced.  My father said “Let him get a little bit ahead of you, then smoke him.”  I was surprised, but since I was very experienced at racing on the open highway, this was no problem.  I smoked him.

The night of the wedding, we drove to the Ramada Inn in Spartanburg.  It was right by my old house in the Rescue 16 /Metro area.

We stayed in the Jacuzzi Suite. That night we had shrimp cocktails and Champaign.  Suzanne was still pretty sore, so we had a relaxed evening.

The next day, we drove around Spartanburg and went to Capris Italian restaurant for supper.

The following day we drove to Memphis, Tennessee. We checked in at the Holiday Inn where I had prepaid for the bridal suite complete with Champaign breakfast for two days.

We toured Graceland, Elvis’ jet, and went to the Memphis Airport and ate Mississippi Mud Pie.

When we checked out after the second day, the hotel tried to charge me for the second Champaign breakfast.  I told them, no, that was part of the package.

A steel company was checking in for a meeting and the guy in charge for the steel company told the manager that they would not check in until the hotel resolved the matter with me. The hotel wrote off the breakfast.

We drove to Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge and stayed for a couple of days. Then, we rode to Asheville and stayed at a Holiday Inn there. 

The next day, we toured the Biltmore Estate and ate at the Deer Park Restaurant on the estate.  The problem with expensive food is that it is never any good and you don’t get very much of it.  The food was okay, but the dressing had oranges in it and there was very little to eat.  When we left the estate, we went to McDonalds.

We stayed one more night in Asheville and then drove back to Iva.  We went to our new house and crashed.  We spent two weeks on our honeymoon.  It was a blast.

Visit my beautiful child-bride, Suzanne’s, Blog.

This post inspired by Wedding Wednesday 
(Suggested by Carol of Reflections from the Fence and in use by several genealogy bloggers.) http://reflectionsfromthefence.blogspot.com/
I found it on Geneabloggers: http://www.geneabloggers.com/daily-blogging-prompts/wedding-wednesday/

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Su De Lou Takes on Papa Bruce

Su De Lou Takes on Papa Bruce

Years ago, my family owned the Western Auto Associate Store in Iva, South Carolina.  We sold a lot of car parts. 

Back then cars had carburetors and part of the carburetor was a very thin piece of rubber called a diaphragm.  These diaphragms came in all sorts of shapes and sizes.  Often when there was a problem with a carburetor, it was caused by the diaphragm.

There were so many different varieties of diaphragms that it was impossible to keep all but the most popular ones in stock.  Those we could not keep in stock we could order from Birmingham Parts in Birmingham, Alabama, and have them in two days via Fed-Ex. 

Once, a customer had placed an order for a diaphragm and he came in the store to ask Papa Bruce if his diaphragm came in.  Papa went to the back counter to see if the FedEx shipment had come in.

Suzanne Gunter McClendon, who Papa Bruce referred to as Su De Lou, was sitting behind the back counter.  She was about 27 months pregnant.  Suzanne was 4’ 11” all the way around at the time.

Papa Bruce said, “Su De Lou, do you have a diaphragm back there?” 

Suzanne pointed to her belly and said, “If I had one of those, I wouldn’t look like this."

Papa Bruce turned every shade of red there was.

Suzanne got a good laugh and Papa learned that she is a force to be reckoned with. 

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Wednesday Hodge Podge

Wednesday Hodgepodge

Each week the folks over at This Side of The Pond post a list of blogging prompts to help clueless bloggers, like me, find things to write about.  This is my first post using those prompts.

1. What's something fun you're looking forward to on your May calendar? 

Mothers’ Day and our youngest son's (the Marine) birthday.  He will be 22 this year.  My beautiful child bride Suzanne will celebrate her 30^th Mother’s Day this year.  Okay, the first year was with our oldest son, Jared, on the inside but that is not important.  What is important is that she has been a great mother to these young’uns for a long time.

Suzanne Pregnant with David, Jr.

2. What are some images that come to mind when you hear the word mother? 

I am not really an abstract thinker.   It is hard for me to think in terms of images coming to mind.  However, when I think of the word mother I think of seeing Suzanne holding our little ones with a smile on her face.  

My mother with me

3. What's something beautiful you own or have seen that's made of glass? 

Perhaps the most special glass thing that comes to mind is the top to our wedding cake.  It was hand-blown in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, just a few months before our wedding. 

4. Was today typical?  If not, what made it unusual? 

Although retirement is supposed to mean you slow down, it seems we haven’t.  There is no such thing as typical or usual around here.  There is always something going on, as Paul Overstreet says in his song "All the Fun".

However, today would be a little less ordinary that usual.  Suzanne and I try to do our shopping in the middle of the night at Walmart.  I need a handicapped cart because of my foot and it is practically impossible to get one during the day.  So, we went to do some shopping.

When we shop, we shop in two parts. The first part we buy the phone cards we need to buy. We have found that we save over $150 per month by using prepaid GoPhones  rather than the contract plan. You have to checkout through a live, human cashier.

Since most cashiers we know wipe their runny noses on their hands and then proceed to checkout our items, we choose to take our actual food items to a self-checkout.

Well, to make a short story long as I am apt to do, we finished with the non-food items and took them to the car.  I had Suzanne’s keys in my pocket and unlocked the car with them.

We finished putting the stuff in the car and I locked the car with Suzanne’s keys.

We went back in the store and bought our food.  After we checked out, we headed to the car.  I looked in my pocket and had my keys but not hers.

We went back to the register we had checked out at and looked for the keys. They weren’t there.  We took the groceries to the car and locked it with my keys and then went back inside to look for the keys.

Back inside the store, we looked everywhere.  We asked several employees and they stopped what they were doing to help us.  The assistant manager asked everyone that could to help us find them. We went through the store at least four times and then decided to go home and unpack the groceries on the outside chance that I had put them in a bag.  Since Suzanne had packed all but one bag of the groceries, this was highly unlikely.

We went through all the bags and did not find them.  Suzanne frisked me.  Nothing.  I took off my clothes and looked very carefully through the pockets for the keys.  Nothing. 

We went back to Walmart to look again.  The morning shift was coming on, so we asked every employee we saw to keep an eye out for them.  We gave them our business card and asked them to call us if they found them.

Finally, we gave up.  For some reason Suzanne had the idea to look in her purse and there they were.  We know I had them.  We know that she drove to the store with them.  This was not possible.

But as the saying goes, once you eliminate the impossible everything that remains, no matter how improbable it is, is possible.

5. What is a quality you wish you could have more of?

Judging from the story above, brevity.

6. What's the next major purchase you need to make? Will it happen in the month of May?

We have no money to purchase anything at the time.  We need so many major things though.  I would like to say a house of our own in the middle of nowhere.

7. What responsibility/job/work did you dislike while growing up but has proved helpful to you as an adult?

I really cannot think of an answer to this question.  Our family owned a small business.  This meant that everyone had a job to do except my younger brother. No matter how old he was, he was always “too young’ to do anything.

As children, my sister and I were expected to take care of the yard work from about the time I was eight and she was ten.  It was work, but it was fun. 

Today my child-bride and I still enjoy working in the yard when we can. 

8. Insert your own random thought here. 

Mothers’ Day brings many memories.  The year my child-bride Suzanne celebrated her first Mothers’ Day with a baby outside of her was the year my father died just two days after Mothers’ Day.

Here is a special thank you to all you mothers out there.  We husbands and children might not say thank you as often as we should, but we are thankful for all that you do.

Please visit my child-bride, Suzanne's Hodgepodge Post

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Restless Faith:Holding On to a God Just Out of Reach a book review

Restless Faith by Winn Collier a Book Review

Let me begin by saying that I would love to give this book all five stars.  I say that not because of anything to do with the book itself.  The reason is that this author lives in Clemson, South Carolina, which is near my old home area of Starr and Iva, South Carolina and the Flat Rock Community.

Maybe I am not the brightest bulb in the string of lights, but I had a very hard time trying to ascertain what this Collier was trying to say.

Reading this book seems very much like being inside the mind of someone with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD).  Collier switches from one point to another with very little to string the thoughts together.

The author expects his reader to know of all these people mentioned in his book.  I read a great deal.  In fact, I am often reading several books in one day.  I have heard of the poet Rumi, but only recently learned anything about him from my friend David Cawood from his book The Secret Sabbatical.


I was not aware of some of the other people quoted in the book.  That being said, when a book is meant for those of us who do not have a masters degree in theology, literature, or mythology it would be great for the author to provide a brief explanation as to why a quote from someone we have never heard of is helpful.

The author does explain some things in the note section. But, face it, the average reader will never see the note section. Those of us that are looking for answers to life's questions would rather read a book instead of a foot noted, documented research paper.

From reading the promotional information regarding the book, I was under the impression that somehow reading this book would help the reader come to some type of resolution within them that all is not lost, that there is hope when we place our faith in God.  I never saw this.

Instead, I read from a man who had found no resolution.  If anything, he told us of his doubts and fears but gave no hope for overcoming them.

I fail to see how Collier links his sex life with his wife along with the professed lusts he had for others with assisting his readers find a faith they are struggling with.

As I neared the end of this book, a former pastor came to mind.  This pastor was hired to preach at the church I attended in my youth.  Most of the members of the church were older.  This new pastor was struggling.  It was his first church.

He was also the father of one child of about two years old.  We had seven at the time ranging in age from about 4 to about 17.  The pastor, who was having a hard enough time keeping up with one child, attempted to give me advice on being a parent.

The advice came about because as we were talking, my youngest son came up to me and asked me something.  I answered him and turned back to my conversation with the pastor.

The pastor began to lecture me about how to handle interruptions from my child. I explained that in life there are priorities that one must set.  To me, any communication with my wife and children was infinitely more important than the chit chat in which he and I were engaged.

My point here is that the author appears to be trying to advise his readers on a topic he is still fighting through himself.  Very much like my pastor friend who was giving advice on child rearing when he had not yet figured it out.

I received this book free of charge or obligation through the Tyndale Rewards Program.  I was under no obligation to write a review positive or otherwise. 



       

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Master Control Part II

Master Control Part II

As I told you in my previous post, I wrote to Suzanne.  I sent what some would see as a “Hail Mary” letter because I mailed the letter to just a route number with no idea where Suzanne lived.  So, what happened?

What seemed like an eternity later, I received a reply to my letter.  Suzanne had actually gotten the letter.

In her reply, she said her mother said she could write me as long as I did not have a prison record.  Being a goofball, which had previously gotten me in hot water, I answered.  “I don’t have a prison record: I do, however, have a Police Album.  You can borrow it if you like.” The Police were a very popular group in the genre of what was then known as Pop Music. Suzanne’s mother was not amused.

When Suzanne wrote, she would sign her letters “Your Friend, Phantom Tiger”

She explained that the Phantom was her favorite comic strip and that she was a Crescent Tiger fan. 

We wrote several letters back and forth.  I began signing my letters, “Love, David.”  A few letters later, Suzanne began to write “With a friend’s love, Phantom Tiger”.

One Sunday I rode back to Anderson and went to church with my friend Roger Madden.  Roger and his family were members of McDuffie Street Church of God.  We sat with Granny Madden.  

As we were leaving, I looked for Suzanne. I had looked for her when we came in but did not see her.  She had told me that she went to McDuffie Street Church of God. I finally saw her just as she was walking out the back door and I moved quickly to catch up with her.

We talked for a while.  I walked her to the church bus.  I offered to take her home, but she wisely refused.  While we talked, Roger went to get Bird-2 (my car and sometimes rescue unit) from the parking lot.  After the bus pulled away from the curb, I got in Bird-2.  Some of the kids on the bus wrongly identified Bird-2 as a Dodge O-2-4. It was a Mercury Capri.

Roger and I left and we discussed Suzanne.  I had decided to visit her soon.  I wrote her a letter letting her know I would be coming to her house very soon. Find out what becomes of that in my next post.

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