By Bob Jepperson

Twelve year old Ruth Andersen skimmed across the frosty surface at the Ballard Ice Arena wearing the hockey skates that her mother bought for her at the Goodwill store. Ruth loved figure skating with her girlfriends, and she learned to skate quite well. In fact, she harbored secret dreams of competing someday in couples competitions.

One evening while Ruth sat on a rink-side bench lacing up her skates, a boy named Larry Desrosier skated over to her. He was fifteen years old at the time. The two chatted briefly. Imagine Ruth’s surprise a few days later when Larry showed up at her front door even though Ruth had not told Larry where she lived. He had ridden his Schwinn bicycle three miles from his house on NW 97th to her house on NW 57th. Eventually they became good friends. The year was 1948. Sixty-seven years later Larry and Ruth are still friends, and more. Today they are parents, grandparents, and great grandparents.

The same Schwinn bicycle that carried Larry to Ruth’s front door also carried him to another attraction. One day as he peddled by a gas station at 85th and 32nd NW, Larry noticed a green ’36 Ford 3-window coupe on the station’s lube rack. In the car’s window was a for sale sign with a price of $450 – a lot of money in 1949 – but after years of mowing Ballard lawns, Larry had saved $450 and a bit more. He wanted that car! The prospect of owning it tormented him so much that he rode his bicycle by the gas station four or five times a day.

The car’s owner was scheduled to report for military service in three weeks. A deal had to be struck, but there were obstacles. Larry did not have a driver’s license, and his father objected to his son owning a car at such a young age. A week went by before Larry’s mother stepped in on Larry’s behalf, insisting that her husband either tell the boy he could not have the car or take the car for a test drive. Larry’s father agreed to drive the car. The 13-year old coupe performed flawlessly, and Larry purchased it, but the owner insisted on driving the car until he entered the service. Larry would have to wait two more weeks! He later admitted that from the first time he saw the car until he finally took possession, he worried seventeen pounds off his already-lean frame.

The Jewel. Photo courtesy of Bob Jepperson.

Almost from the beginning of Larry and Ruth’s relationship, the 1936 coupe played an important role in their lives. Ruth learned to drive in the car on the expansive parking lot of Seattle’s brand new Northgate Shopping Mall, and Larry kidded Ruth about leaving half his tires on the asphalt while she learned to operate a clutch.

For a few years the coupe was Larry’s only transportation, and the car remained unchanged until 1953 when Larry had Mac’s Ballard Auto Upholstery install a new interior. And something else changed in 1953: right after Ruth finished her sophomore year at Ballard High School, she and Larry got engaged. Sixty-two years later Ruth still wears the ring on her finger.

That same summer they joined the newly formed Falcons Car Club. Ruth served as secretary. After meetings, as many as thirty members drove their cars to the large parking area around McKale’s gas station at 15th and Market and walked across the street to the Triple X where, along with members of other Seattle area clubs, they would hang out and consume hamburgers, fries and Triple X root beer.

In the spring of 1954, Larry decided to “chop” the top of the coupe, taking the car to Stan Baker who operated a body shop on Lake City Way. Baker was a craftsman with plenty of work lined up, so he suggested that Larry cut off the top himself. Baker showed him where to make the cuts. Back home, Larry removed the coupe’s top with a hacksaw, expecting that Baker would complete the job, but Baker was called into the military.

Jim Erickson, owner of Jim’s Auto Body Service on Seattle’s Aurora Avenue, came to the rescue and finished the job. The coupe had a new look with a three inch lower top. Jim and Larry made other changes to the car, such as hydraulically operated lifts for the hood, trunk lid, and side windows. The tricky trunk turned out to be fun; whenever Larry and Ruth drove away from the Triple X, they waved goodbye to club members with their trunk lid. Jim also added a new paint job – one coat of black followed by sixteen coats of blue lacquer – that turned the coupe into the car that Larry and Ruth still refer to as “The Jewel.”

The winter of 1955-56 found Larry working as a forklift operator for Novelty Flour Mills near West Seattle. Ruth, a high school senior, began working at Fentron Industries at 28th and Market, just two blocks from her home. And sitting pretty inside her very own garage stall, The Jewel was about to prove that she was no trailer queen.

On Friday, the 27th of January, 1956 – right after Larry got off work – he and his brother Andy pointed the coupe toward Yakima. Rain was falling on the west side of the Cascade Mountains, but as the coupe climbed to higher elevations, rain turned to snow – heavy snow. Visibility was poor. Fortunately fellow Falcons Car Club member Gary Swanson came along in his ’48 Merc. Gary led the way, plowing tracks for The Jewel, and the Merc’s tail lights served as beacons guiding Larry through the blizzard.

The temperature dropped to five degrees below zero at the summit and deep snow covered the road, but on the eastern slope of the mountains the snowfall eased. Reaching Yakima, Larry wheeled the coupe into a gas station where the friendly attendant allowed Larry to drive his coupe into the station’s lube room. Larry could not open his door; it was frozen shut. Fortunately he was a skinny guy so he climbed through the driver’s window and began hosing down the coupe. Everything – all the road grit and snow, even the icy mess under the car – washed down the drain of the lube room floor.

Inside the comfort of Yakima’s pavilion, a grand collection of cars had already gathered. It was late Friday evening but the place was abuzz with activity, owners and their buddies and girlfriends chatting and working on their entries. Larry and Andy worked until the wee hours getting “The Jewel” ready for the next day. The coupe got one more coat of Blue Coral wax, and Larry scrubbed his tires and white walls with boiled linseed oil, followed by a good rubbing with a towel until the four Gillette Presidents glowed. At Sunday’s awards ceremony, the judges passed over some striking cars to give the sweepstakes trophy to “The Jewel.” They admired her simple beauty.

The coupe won more awards that year, including the sweepstakes at the Tacoma Armory, but the best part of 1956 arrived in April. Two weeks after Ruth graduated from high school, Larry and Ruth were married. Their new life together allowed less time for the Falcons CC and for car shows, but they avoided doing what so many car owners do at that point in their lives, they did not sell their special car. Instead, they continued to enjoy the 1936 Ford decade after decade, and they always reserved one garage stall just for the coupe. As a result, the car looks nearly as good today as she looked sixty years ago. The car has been repainted once – still a deep blue – and in 2015 a few minor changes returned the coupe to its mid-50’s glory.

Now “The Jewel” is new again, ready to be celebrated once more, this time as a survivor from an era when car clubs were king, when customs were cool, and when Larry and Ruth Desrosier were just beginning life together.

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