1958 Edsel

I thought the idea was a great one…the automobile and the liberal arts.  Perfect.  Faculty interest, alumni interest…PERFECT!

At points in the process?  An Asian area fire drill to be sure?  It was warm jello for a long time.  The final product?  Priceless and a great time for all who participated in any way.

We had classics, to be sure.  Below is a 1955 Chevy Bel Air convertible provided by General Motors.  This car looks new inside and out.  Look at the smiles on the faces of Brad Johnson ’71 (one of the event organizers) and the student.  A timeless car.  If you had one of these when I was in high school…you were DaMan!

1955 Bel Air Convertible

But we had vehicles that were used, and used hard every day.  Check out Chris Bryan’s Willys.  He uses it off road, as you can tell.  The Willys was designed in WWII to last about 10 days – that was their typical lifespan.  This one is only 65 YEARS old.

Chris Bryan's 1947 Willys

It was a great day topped of by a keynote from good friend, and Vice President and Treasurer of General Motors, Jim Davlin ’85.  Jim told the group of the forward looking product development going on at GM.  He also cited the many major accomplishments of liberal arts graduates in the American automotive industry.

It was a great day!!!

For a photo album, click here.