My LillyMae ......

Dedicated to my best friend, Louie Fico

Why do I love this car so much?   Why did I restore her?Why?

I was never much of a car lover, but that all changed when ....

I fell in love with LILLYMAE in July of 1989, when I stopped off at Durfee Chevrolet with my daughter Rebecca in search of a car. I didn’t know what I wanted or what was available and as we walked into the showroom, I saw the lady. I got all choked up and stood very still. There she was  .....

This lady was elegant and pristine and shined in the overhead lights like a rare jewel. I knew I wanted her. I opened the door and sat down and closed the door and yelled out, "is anybody going to sell me this car?" Well Carl Fuhrman heard me and came over and I bought her. Price was not an option. I just wanted her. She was my Woman in Red and I knew I had to have her. We had many memorable times together. She was always there for me, the good and the bad.

Over the years however, she had been worn down by use, by rust from many Rochester winters and I had considered just running her until she breathed her last until .....

One day during the summer of August 2001, it came time to make a decision. She had blown two cylinders from leaking coolant one day,  my chief mechanic advised me of my options. The car was sound mechanically and he advised a new engine and further restoration if I decided to go that route. And I did. My mechanic had nursed LILLYMAE back to health as he replaced much of her mechanical system in later years and took care of her as if she were her own. This started the fun road to total restoration.

In November of 2004, I had discussed total restoration with Lou Fico, my friend from kindergarten days who had a top notch restoration business in the Rochester area for the past thirty five years and he advised me of the restoration process and proceeded to estimate the cost of the project. A complete rust assessment was done and to my surprise Lilly needed very little work in this area. The door columns were pretty much rotted away, two large holes under both front wheel wells were present, the doors were pretty rusted and excessive rust and holes were present under the rear bumper assembly behind the bumper. PLEASE SEE THE SECTION: SUMMARY OF WORK COMPLETED ON CAR for the rest of the story.