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Arizona sales rep builds her
own classic car
If there’s anything Glenda Greene likes more
than attending classic car shows, it’s actually rebuilding
a classic car and making it her own.
Glenda, an inside sales representative at ABS Arizona,
is the proud owner of a pink champagne and navy blue 1956 Chevy
wagon, a classic that she and her father built.
“I absolutely love my car,” Glenda says.
“It’s so much fun to drive.”
One year from frame to finish.
In September 2002, Glenda found the body and frame
of a ’56 Chevy wagon in a Phoenix-area junkyard. The shell
had some surface oxidization, but nothing had rusted through.
However, the original color—sea foam green and white—was
timeworn and barely noticeable.
Glenda recalls, “The wagon had no windows, no
seats, no steering wheel and nothing under the hood.”
She paid $2,100 for the wreck and then she and her
dad went to work. They scoured flea markets and area junkyards
for the parts they needed to build the vehicle.
Over the next 12 months, the classic wagon took shape—a
motor and transmission, wiring, upholstery, tires and rims, air
conditioning, even a stereo system with a DVD player.
Glenda says, “I have the best of both worlds—the
classic looks of the 1950s and the latest in stereo technology.”
A bargain at 25 grand.
All told, Glenda paid about $25,000 for all the
parts for her refurbished vehicle, and it was worth every dollar,
she says.
On Labor Day weekend in 2003, Glenda showed off her
new wheels at a popular car show in Costa Mesa, California, and
the classic wagon wowed the other attendees.
About 25 vehicles from that show were featured in
a souvenir picture book, and Glenda’s was one of them.
Glenda estimates she drives her “new” Chevy
three to four times a month. She regularly attends car shows throughout
California, Nevada and Arizona.
Ready for a new challenge.
Rebuilding a 1959 Chevy Biscayne is next on Glenda’s
agenda. It’s one of her all-time favorite cars.
Glenda picked up the car-reconditioning bug from
her father, who has built cars his entire life. His favorite set
of wheels is a 1937 Ford Couple Cabriolet, a convertible that
he drives almost every weekend.
“Some kids were born with a silver spoon in
their mouth,” she says. “I was born with a wrench in
my hand.”
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