D e s e r t E x p o s u r e
August 2010
Happy Days
Classic-car buffs Tedd and Carol Walters craft a 1950s garage to match their memories.
By Pat Young
Their home is a modern southwest style in Silver Acres, just outside Silver City, but five years ago Tedd and Carol Walters added a spacious shop with dcor right out of the 1950s.
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The Walters in their retro garage with their 1940 Pontiac. |
The retro garage/shop provides a fitting setting for their 1940 Pontiac, a customized coupe that looks like it has pulled right up to an art-deco diner. Behind the bright-red street rod is an alcove in the shop with black-and-white checkered floor, red counter and table tops, a nicely restored Wurlitzer juke box, and an assortment of vintage signs.
One tongue-in-cheek sign reads, "No trespassing. Violators will be shot. Survivors will be shot again." Another sign reads, "Notice: Sexual harassment in this area will not be reported. However, it will be graded."
The dozens of other entertaining signs and posters include a Route 66 sign, a Texaco sign complete with bullet holes, and posters of notables such as Elvis and Marilyn Monroe.
Tedd and Carol both graduated in 1961, but most of their fondest memories are straight from the '50s. The two long-time Silver City residents had known each other for years, but Tedd adds with a mischievous grin, "I just didn't pay any attention to her."
That was until he came to a dance, discovered a forever dance partner in Carol, and, as he puts it, "the rest is history."
Tedd had moved to Las Cruces in his sophomore year, but came back to Silver City for the dances — and for Carol. They will celebrate their 49th wedding anniversary this year. They have three children and three grandchildren, all residing in Albuquerque.
Carol retired after 28 years as the service manager at Wells Fargo Bank in Silver City. Tedd retired from the position of maintenance supervisor at Phelps Dodge. He was also a contractor, which accounts for the craftsmanship in their retro shop.
Carol says with a laugh, "He had to build the shop, or he'd have driven me crazy in the house."
But it is obvious they have a shared interest in "past times." They are long-time members of the Copper Country Cruizers, a non-profit organization promoting classic, custom and antique cars, trucks and street rods from 1973 and earlier. They are also active in the annual Copper Country Cruizers car show, scheduled for August 20-21 at Gough Park in Silver City this year.
"I grew up in the '50s," Tedd says. "I had the hot-rod bug before I had a driver's license."
The '50s era just stuck with him. But it was Carol who spotted the rusty, sad-looking 1940 Pontiac coupe that now enhances their garage. The frame-off restoration was a joint effort that took 13 years to complete. It may be a '40s-era car, but it is equipped with many modern features, including a 350 Chevy V-8 engine, 700 R-4 automatic transmission, power steering, power brakes, electric windows and seats, plus air conditioning. Trophies lining shelves in the shop attest to its consistent wins at car shows.
Much of the memorabilia in the shop consists of "odds and ends we collected over the years," Tedd says. The stairway to a storage loft came out of the old smelter in Hurley. The slot board on the walls came out of the old Maxwell House store. The juke box was a treasure that belonged to Tedd's father.
The quintessential posters, pictures and memorabilia in the "diner" area of the shop mirror a lifetime for Tedd and Carol.
"The music, the cars, the times," Tedd reminisces. "It was just a nostalgic time for us."
Building the shop, complete with retro diner and customized 1940 Pontiac street rod, was a dream they finally got around to after retirement. For these two down-to-earth people, laughter and memories come easily.
Don't be surprised if you drive by the Walters' home and see them dancing on the checkerboard floor at the back of their shop, perhaps to music on the old Wurlitzer.
Some things aren't just memories for Tedd and Carol Walters — they are today's moments.
For more information on the 19th Annual Run to Copper Country Car Show in Silver City, August 20-21, visit coppercountrycruizers.com or call Doug and Karlene Colgan at (575) 388-3468.