Hill School superintendent , got the vehicle from his father , Dr . E . H . Burton , who got it from his parents Rufus and Versa Burton . They had bought the car brand-new from a dealership in Monticello .
Therefore , Godsey points out , the car not only stayed in one family for quite a while , it hasn ’ t traveled far from it ’ s original home .
As for how Godsey got the car , he said he had told Gene Mounce of Gene ’ s Gulf that he wanted to get into fixing up old cars .
One day , Gene called him up and said he thought he knew someone who was looking to sell a couple of cars .
Joe Burton was willing to sell both his 1955 Chevy and his 1950 Ford .
“ They just said they just didn ’ t think they would want to keep them , because they didn ’ t have time to fool with them , and he wasn ’ t into keeping old cars up . He didn ’ t even like to drive them ,” Godsey said .
Godsey said Burton wanted to give him both , but Godsey was only interested in the Chevy . It was a bit beat up , but Godsey said , “ When we got to taking it apart and fixing it , it all worked out fine .”
There were places where they had to shrink the metal to put it back , and parts that were rusty that they could buy new parts for and weld them in .
“ I couldn ’ t do that , but people who know how to do body work , they could do that ,” Godsey said , meaning that the restoration of the car was a group effort .
There were some visible changes to the car – the grill is original , as is most of the stainless steel around the windows , but the bumpers were new and the paint had to be redone .
September 2022 SEKY - Life in Southeast Kentucky • 11