1994-2000
If I have any regrets about California, it’s just this: that I only have two photographs of my beloved car Dino. I bought this ‘72 Plymouth Valiant at Rent-A-Wreck shortly after arriving in Los Angeles for $350. That’s right, $350. It was dented & rusty & looked like hell but drove well enough & it was better than walking. We dubbed it Dino right away because it was green, & my friend Chris (Bonno) was always offering to paint it for me. After a couple of years I finally took him up on his offer & I told him to do whatever he wanted — anything would look better than the current rusted-out hulk. If you were in the LA area in the 90s, you may very well have seen my car. It was hard to miss. Here’s the other photo, it shows more of the body:
Those are supposed to be dinosaur scales. Unfortunately, there are no pictures of the back, which featured the Flintstones’ Dino scampering across the trunk. I left the car behind when I moved away from LA — he wasn’t doing very well & needed a lot of TLC, much more than I could ever give him. Chris was able to sell the hood for $2000 & I understand it’s now hanging in someone’s living room & is quite the conversation piece.
(That is a small rubber chicken hanging from the rear-view mirror.)
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