Mom surprised me with something special when I was at my parent’s house yesterday – it’s a picture of the 1947 Dodge from way back when my Great Uncle Elmer owned her (*see note below on the Dodge’s history). The picture was taken, most likely, in 1949. The Dodge is bright and shiny and my Mom’s Cousin Renny is sitting behind the wheel with a big smile on his face.

On the back of the picture someone (maybe my Great Aunt Harriet?) wrote:

our 47 dodge

Renny sitting in it

It’s so cool to see what the Dodge looked like back in the day when she was almost brand new!

The thing that jumps out at me the most about the picture are the wonderful tires with white sidewalls. When I showed the picture to my brother, Joel, he was excited to see that the Dodge had fog lights. We weren’t sure if the fog lights were original or added on later by my Grandpa. Now we know that they were in place back when Uncle Elmer owned the car.

How did we get this fabulous picture? Well, according to Mom: Aunt Harriet is 101 years old now and lives in a nursing home (Uncle Elmer passed away some time ago). Her daughter, my mom’s Cousin Joanne, has been going through Elmer and Hariett’s things. Joanne gave a box of Elmer and Harriet’s old pictures to my Uncle Marvin. I believe Joanne passed on the Dodge picture with the intent that we get it. Marvin passed off the box of pictures to Mom knowing the Dodge picture was in the box and Mom gave the Dodge picture to me.

It’s kind of a miracle this picture has been around since 1949 and it’s really a treat that it found its way to us!

*Note on the Dodge’s history: I can’t remember if I’ve actually spelled out the Dodge’s history in a past blog post or not so I will give a little background now. According to the stories I’ve been told, My Great Uncle Elmer bought the Dodge in 1949 and later suggested that his brother (my Grandpa Howard) buy the Dodge from him. Our Grandpa Howard bought the Dodge from Uncle Elmer when the car was about 10 years old. We know that Uncle Elmer’s son, Renny, drove the Dodge a few times when he was younger he told us this at my parent’s 50th anniversary party just over a year ago. We know that Grandpa owned the Dodge up until his death. At that time, my Uncle Marvin took ownership and owned the Dodge for about 19 years then my Uncle Marvin