Romance has a name: Cabriolet

WAILUA — One look at Glenn Mickens’ 1935 Ford Cabriolet and a rush of silver screen Hollywood images will flood into your memory.

If Gable or Bacall don’t quickly spring to mind, perhaps you can envision this beautiful vehicle as a high school hot rod rolling into a local drive-in, complete with a bevy of bobby soxers squirming around the rumble seat.

Whatever image emerges, many, if not most, car buffs would agree that the classic lines of this 1935 convertible must contain a kind of powerful aphrodisiac that slowly drips automotive romance into the tubes running through one’s heart and brain. Romance has a name, and it’s called Cabriolet.

Mickens saved up and bought his convertible in 1947, his last year of high school, for $485 from a used car lot in Los Angeles. Mickens has held onto his classic for six decades, carrying fond memories like the time the whole baseball team piled onto his convertible as he drove it around the ball field, celebrating a victory while the car’s woof whistle wailed away to the cheers of the spectators.

In 1947, a movie was produced entitled “The Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer,” starring Cary Grant, Shirley Temple, Myrna Loy and Rudy Valee. Part of the film was shot at Beverly Hills High School with Mickens’ Cabriolet, painted Honolulu Metallic Blue at the time, and performing a cameo role in the background.

Throughout this 62-year love affair, there were many situations when Mickens could have parted with his 74-year-old Ford, including the time he played professional baseball in San Antonio, Texas, or when he spent two years of military service in the Korean War. Perhaps it was the Cabriolet’s classic lines that held onto its owner’s heart, because 62 years together holds a lifetime of genuine loyalty. 

Over the years Mickens faithfully changed plugs, points, and managed oil changes for his Ford, but not, as he describes it, “the big things.”

“I’ve been a baseball player all my life and not a mechanic,” said Mickens. “So,” he continued, “when it came time to replace the overheated flathead engine and restore the body, I decided to leave it to the experts.”

In 1983, an auto restoration expert in Los Angeles overhauled the 1935 Ford. The Cabriolet was stripped right down to the frame and restored to its present-day classic beauty. Mickens replaced the original 85-horsepower flathead with a 283 Chevrolet engine along with a 350 Chevrolet turbo hydro-matic transmission and a Corvette rear end.

Dual pipes offer up the most delightful V8 growl from beneath the shiny black streamlined body as visions of wide highways rise up to be tamed. The cushy red rumble seat in the rear of the Cabriolet is also referred to as, “the mother-in-law” seat, rumored to be created for chaperoning purposes.

As a teen, Mickens would occasionally become the designated driver on a double date, and was often left to wonder what happened to the couple in the rumble seat after they quietly closed the lid and disappeared from sight. In 1960, Mickens drove down to Tijuana, Mexico to have the seat covers and rumble seat upholstered.

He recalled that friends warned him that it was important to watch the work being done, because sand or equestrian “road apples” might be substituted for the cotton filler in the “tuck and roll” padding. The upholstery shop worked on four cars at a time so the observation took a not-so-easy eight hours to complete.

The good news is, there are only 9,957 miles on Mickens’ Cabriolet. He confides that the bad news is he simply doesn’t drive it enough to keep the battery up and the automatic transmission hydro seals from getting hard and leaking. It’s all part of an auto lover’s rocky road.

Mickens resides in the Wailua Homesteads and said with a wink, “This is my pride and joy, and someday they’ll bury me in it.”

However, Mickens later admitted he would hand the classic Cabriolet down to his son.

• Leo DuBois, contributor, can be reached via news editor Nathan Eagle at 245-3681 (ext. 227) or via e-mail at neagle@kauaipubco.com