John, your blog post about this guy's stolen vehicles, struck me, especially, at how small these cars were. While he is likely a large fellow, look at the size of the Austin-Healey's door in comparison to his body. I'm sure he could barely get in it. But every time I see one of these cars my mind is triggered to the woman I worked for in college -- Julia Dees -- reference librarian who owned a British Racing Green (BRG) Austin-Healey although her Healey was a few years earlier than this red one in this photo and had side curtains. I was walking home late one afternoon in the pouring rain, soaked, and she stopped and asked me if she could take me to my rooming house. I climbed in wet as a duck and fell in love with her car.
Miss Dees -- Julia -- retired to Colorado and I made contact with her about four years ago before she passed away. I recounted to her the story of her giving me a ride to my rooming house, soaked to the skin..........and 50 years later she remembered the story! In a letter she said that she dearly loved that car!
Please post! Not for posting but the lust for Julia's car included a bit of lust in my heart for her -- at the time she was in her early 40s and had related to me many stories of her life. She grew up in Rhode Island, the only child of a wealthy family whose lineage went back to the Mayflower. Julia had been a WAC in the Korean War and then studied French in Paris following that conflict -- while in Paris she rode a Vespa around Europe. She spoke four languages. With my provincial background, I'd never encountered such an "exotic" person before and while she was my supervisor and over 20 years older I sort of have puppy love for her. Plus she was a Unitarian-Universalist -- not your ordinary Methodist or Baptist for sure!
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