Car Envy Much.. and an encounter

My Wife and I got up early Saturday morning and drove over to Oak Cliff to eat breakfast at Norma's Cafe. Norma's is a really cool old diner that's been around since 1956. Oak Cliff, itself, is a pretty interesting place. It was once a very affluent city that rivaled Dallas during its heyday. In fact, Oak Cliff narrowly lost out on becoming the actual County Seat back when those things were decided.

Over the years, Dallas grew to encompass Oak Cliff just as it did many of the other formerly independent cities that surrounded it. Oak Cliff maintains its own special flavor though. There are parts of "The Cliff" that are truly scary. Bad, bad neighborhoods. There are pockets, though, that are wonderful. The Bishop Arts district is one such place, where many of the old buildings have had new life breathed into them and now house shops and art galleries and restaurants.

After a wonderful breakfast at Norma's, we drove around a bit in the aging neighborhoods that surround the Bishop Arts district. Saw some cool old houses, in various states of decay or restoration - depending. I thought this was pretty cool:

That's a hot air balloon gondola on the front porch of a house. Neat. It's wrapped in lights, and I bet it's really pretty at night all lit up.

Also stumbled upon this gem:

That's my #1 Dream Car. 1959 Buick Invicta. I can't imagine a car that looks more pissed off from the front. Just look at those angled headlights...

Sweet...... These old beauties always remind me of the original Batmobile from the 1960s.

You may notice the man walking down the sidewalk to the right in the picture. That's the owner of the car. I was standing in the street as he approached. I never came closer than 15 feet of the car. As he walked up, I asked him if the car was his, and complemented him on it. Told him it was a beauty, and that it was my dream car.

He tried to run me off.

Hmm.

My response was to walk to the back of the car and take a picture of the rearend. I generally don't look for trouble. In fact, I go out of my way to avoid it. I wouldn't trespass, and I didn't even approach the car to look inside.

I won't be shoo'ed off a public street by some grumpy asshole, though. With a belly full of Norma's Belgian Waffles, I'm pretty confident in my ability to hold my own.

Anyway, when I got home I took a closer look at the rear picture and noticed that it still had the original dealer nameplate attached. "Strayhorn-Lacey Buick" in Dallas. A little internet research showed that this car was bought at a now defunct dealership that is within walking distance of where I took the picture.

I'm a dork, but I thought that was pretty cool.

Oh... and yes, that's the A-hole owner walking away at the top of the pic. I think it may have hurt his feelings that I wasn't sufficiently scared of him to run away. Oh well.... life is full of little disappointments.