Smooth sailing

You might recall Nick Parker’s 1973 Cadillac sedan that we featured in our February 2017 issue. At the time, Nick mentioned he also owned a 1957 Plymouth - and here it is. “I first saw the Plymouth driving past locally in 2005,” remembers Nick. “Did a U-turn and followed, but didn’t ever catch up. I saw it again four years later at a local meet. Then I visited the place that painted my Cadillac – Hills Motor Craft – the Plymouth was there and I finally got to speak to its owner, Jerry Dunning. Two years later Martin from Hills mentioned Jerry was interested in selling one of his cars, perhaps the Plymouth because he now rarely used it. I’d obviously known of the cars from watching the film Christine, but never expected to own one.”

Nick bought the Plymouth in 2016 and it’s proved easy to own, aside from a few small mechanical issues. “I rebuilt the generator since). Right when the blowout happened, a guy rode past on an old motorbike and stopped, excited that he’d seen a ’57 Plymouth. He showed me he was wearing a Christine T-shirt, then said ‘but that’s not the best bit’ then showed me his Christine tattoo…” The Plymouth has a claim to fame, being featured, albeit briefly, in Emelda May’s video for her song Johnny’s Got a Boom Boom. The Belvedere can be glimpsed as the band examines it while walking past it in the street.