Chevrolet Bel Air from the 1950s and Mercedes-Benz from the 1920s–1940s!

I first got introduced to the Chevrolet Bel Air by a buddy back in grade school. He brought a car magazine with him, and it had some real nice photos of the Bel Air. This same guy lived down the street from us, and their yard was full of Mercedes and Volkswagens just sittin' around. None of 'em were much good or anything fancy, not really antiques either.

This was back in the '90s, and the cars were maybe from the '60s at most. But they did have one genuine classic, a badass Mercedes from the 1920s or '30s.

One day, I noticed they’d cleared that Mercedes out of their garage. They were fixin' to expand the property and put part of it up for sale. A good while later, that car shows back up, hauled in on a trailer, and lookin’ absolutely mint! I reckon they’d taken that whole ride apart and restored every piece. The neighbor was a mechanic, after all. No idea where that car is now, but I sure hope it’s still cruisin’ around as one fine piece of vintage machinery!

My dad’s cousin’s husband drove an old Mercedes back in the 1950s. Now, that family was real big in the temperance movement over in Stavanger, and the husband was the boss and director of a company called Gann and Graveren in Sandnes. They made all sorts of stoneware, like plates and serving dishes, plus bricks.

Originally, Gann and Graveren were two separate companies until they merged and eventually became Gann Graveren Building Supplies. When my dad’s cousin’s husband retired, though, the company sadly went under. Stavanger had turned into an oil capital, and most of the production for things like that in Norway started gettin' outsourced to China and other low-cost countries.