If you look closely at the picture above you will see a lot of Fords. And, though you won’t recognize them, probably, you’ll see some of the kids I went to high school with, my brother, my niece, and myself. The Fords are “yesterday’s cars.” There is the model parked in my grandma’s yard in one of the photos I have of that yard (Model T?). There’s the Ford that my dad used to drive on his dates and in which he made out with the girls. There’s the Galaxie 500 I learned to drive and the Falcon that was my dad’s last car. The title of this piece is “Hippy Fords of July.” That came from when my friend, A, back in 1994, had newly arrived from Switzerland and was still mastering English. We were walking along the sidewalk to the Ocean Beach Pier where we were going to watch fireworks. He asked me, “What do people say on the Fourth of July?”

I answered, “Oh, Happy Fourth of July.”

He said, “Huh? Hippy Fords of July?”

I guess I said it fast or mumbled.

This is in a window frame from my old house in San Diego, turned sideways. The fireworks are crayon with black tempera painted over them. The people are watercolor pencil on paper. The nails on the top held a plastic thing one of the Boys on Bikes had found in the canyon, just the “Grateful” part of something mentioning the Grateful Dead, a band I didn’t like much, but the word, Grateful, definitely fit me and the Grateful Dead fit the artwork.

At the time I was driving this 88 Ford Ranger. The topper was a real Cinderella shoe. It was in some guy’s yard in East County and just happened to fit my truck. $50. I had so much fun with this truck which was only 2 years old when I bought it. It is my all time favorite car.

I drove Fords for years with only one major exception, Bella which is a Jeep Renegade, made in Italy by, I believe, Fiat. ❤ She’s my second all-time favorite car.

https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2021/07/10/ragtag-daily-prompt-saturday-yesterdays-cars/