Vintage Bride, Vintage Ride

I am a very lucky lady.  For many reasons.  But one reason is that, on our wedding day, J. and I won’t be riding in any old limo.  Not that there is anything wrong with them!  But we have it really, really, ridiculously good.  My Dad is a car guy.  And his father was a car guy.  And all their friends have all been car guys.  When I was little, this meant we kids got to ride in antique cars in parades, often wearing vintage hats and throwing candy at the crowd.  When I was in middle school, my Dad took us to school in the old cars on a regular basis, much to my early teen-aged mortification.  And when I got older, I developed a real appreciation for these glam-tastic machines.

So nothing makes me more excited than knowing that on our wedding day, we will be chauffered around by my Dad in an antique car of our choosing!  My father literally took me to his museum in Columbus (a former auto-dealership space in German village which he shares with his partner, and stores some of the coolest cars in), and said to me, “pick whichever one you want”!   He didn’t have to ask me twice!

This (the gray car) is my father’s 1934 Packard, in front of the National Packard Museum in  Warren, Ohio.  Dead sexy.  We won’t use it unless the weather is unseasonably warm because I’ll be too nervous about the salt on the roads messing up the paint (hilariously, my Dad does not share this nervousness)!  But I do love it.

This is my Dad with his 1937 Packard Limo, the car we’ll ride in if the weather is charictaristically “December.”  It seats seven people, has the traditional limo dividing window, and is a gorgeous shade of deep burgundy.  The inside has tufted button seats in a similar shade.  Gorgeous. I have two more awesome things to tell you about this car.  First, my Dad got to drive Patricia Neal in this car, to an event at the Drexel Theater in Bexley, Ohio.

And Second, Miss Ohio recently did a photo shoot at the museum for Columbus Magazine, and took some photos in this car.

My little sis and MOH, B., with Patricia Neal.

Miss Ohio, Natasha Vivoda, in the car as pictured in Columbus Magazine’s March 2009 edition.  To read an e-version of the article (sadly without all the fabulous photos), go here!  Images courtesy of Columbus Monthly archives.

Why look, there’s the gray car again!

What makes you feel lucky?