Love of my life and my 1971 Toyota Corolla Wagon

Don’t ask me why, but we decided to get married in February 1971. Ohio winter is not over in February; often the weather is at its worst. Anyway, back up a month. I promised my bride-to-be that I would get a new auto before our wedding so that we wouldn’t breakdown on our honeymoon drive to the ski resort at Oglebay Park, Wheeling West Virginia.

At the time, buying a Japanese car was controversial. It was as if the Japanese had invaded the homeland to finish off what they did not do in WWII. Anyway, I was so tired of fixing or repairing daily (FORD) that we both selected the Toyota Corolla Wagon. I liked it because it had extra room for our suitcases and fishing poles and stuff. She liked it because it was cute and came in a bright turquoise color. We both found our reasons to love the little car.

On February 13th, wedding day, we had a wonderful service at St. Joseph’s cathedral that featured 14 bridesmaids in red pant suits. In addition, my folk band played music.

On this day, the weather was snowy with 75 mph winds. It was a winter hurricane. My half of the church was damned near empty because my relatives lived far to the north and were snowed in.

When the service ended, my wife and I strolled down the aisle shaking hands and such until we reached our coats where we bundled up. All that we had to do was drive down the street to a hotel for the reception and a piece of cake.

My brother-in-law and my best man were in front of the church, freezing to death, though they got into a squabble about who would get to open the door for my wife. Somehow, the door was opened, and both let go of it as the wind blew it back against the hinge and into the side of the car. The door was so bent that I could not close it, thus cramping my honeymoon get away.

My mother had a brand new Ford and offered it for our use while the Toyota headed for repair. The wedding party wrote just married on the hood with shaving cream. The shaving cream froze and removed the paint.

Can’t blame Toyota or Ford for these natural disasters.

YJ