My Father's Favorite Car: the 1933 Chevrolet Master Eagle

The '33

This is the mostly true story of my father's favorite car. Mostly true because I just cannot remember all of the details, such as how old I was when my father first started talking about the car. Sometimes my Dad could be a very good story teller. Often his stories didn't seem to have a real beginning, or an end, they just kind of existed, there in the moment of the telling . Although once a theme or story line was established he would always tell that story the same way. Because the basic structure and most of the characters never varied I always thought the story must be, at least, mostly true.

Dad's name was Stanley. At least that was the American, or English version of his given Polish name. Stanley was the only son and the eldest child of John and his wife. There were four sisters as well but Stanley was the only son. John and his wife were Polish immigrants. I do not know the particulars of how John and his wife wound up in the textile mill town of New York Mills in central New York State where Stanley grew up. I do know that his father's given name was not actually John. John is the American or English version of John's given Polish name. I do not refer to John's wife by name because I am not sure I ever recall hearing anyone in my family say her name. The family never referred to her as John's wife either. Everybody seemed satisfied to call her by the title; Stanley's mother. That ambiguity is a major part of this story. Stanley, his family of origin, his mother and that car were always linked when Dad told "The Story".

How Stanley came to have this particular 1933 Master Eagle Town Sedan and what eventually became of the car is the real core of my story.