Cars Through The Years: They All Had Their Names Pt.7 Poem by Frank Avon

Petunia, the Purple Pick-Up Truck.
Now Petunia was a doozy, pert and perky,
but oh-so useful. A Ford Ranger,
with an extended cab, hence
a scrunched up back seat (whew!) .
She made a vivid impression
on high-school students in Starke, FL,
along with her owner, herself also
pert and perky, an Original,
doomed to dismay in Starke, Reality.

Petunia was a trooper, and a hauler,
an errand-runner, a backroad bumper,
an explorer of the Old Florida,
ancient oaks with Spanish moss,
both coasts, state parks, St. Pete.
and a tripper - back to Tennessee
for, after all, she required
considerably fewer calories
for those long treks up to Chattanooga
(in other words, more miles to the gallon)
than a silver LeBaron with a leather roof -
and on shopping trips to High Springs
and Alachua and Micanopy, for antiques
and book cases and large works of art,
which fit nicely in the bed
of a down-to-earth pick-up truck.

In the meantime, the Pimpernell -
he did well, lounging in the driveway,
going to church and weddings and
formal receptions, operas and symphonies.
As he aged - and he, too, did age,
but oh so gracefully, in his silver sheen -
he was driven to private clinics
where he experienced numerous
organ transplants and retired old tires.
Regrettably, his ID badge no longer
read LeBaron, but Le ron,
though he pranced along, jauntily, ...

for a while,
till he was quite out of style,
square rather than pleasantly curved,
dapper more than dignified;
then circumstances intervened
and the Old Man became a dean,
and the sheen was dimmer,
and it was time that he not be
re-tired, but quietly retired,
so to the country he was driven...