HIS FAMILY PUT 20,000 MILES ON A ’57 CHEVY IN ONE ROAD TRIP

Kamran Khan, 75, a retired civil servant in Pakistan now living in Travilah, Md., on his 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air, as told to A.J. Baime.

Where I grew up, in Quetta, Pakistan, people loved American cars. This was the 1950s and early ’60s, and a lot of people didn’t even have a car. My family was very fortunate and we had a 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air.

In 1962, my mother was planning to represent Pakistan at a women’s forum in Copenhagen. My father had been educated in engineering in Sheffield, England, and he was OK with his kids missing some formal education if he could expose us to the world. So he decided the entire family would go on a road trip. We loaded our ’57 Chevy on an Italian cruise ship called the Victoria, and me, my brother, my sister and my parents sailed for 10 days to Naples, Italy.

From there, we drove the Chevy to Copenhagen and dropped my mom off. We spent a few months in England with my uncles. My mom joined us in London, and we drove all the way back to Pakistan. We went to Jerusalem and crisscrossed many nations and regions. We drove the Chevrolet about 20,000 miles over six months

I was 14, and this trip opened the world to me, as my father had hoped. It was incredible. I also thought this 1957 Chevrolet was the most beautiful car ever made, and I felt so fortunate to be able to travel in it.

After the trip, my dad bought a second car and the ’57 Chevy was given to me. I drove it in high school in Pakistan. Then, one day, an uncle borrowed it and crashed it, and that was the end of this car. I was quite devastated.

Later, I relocated to the U.S. I always talked to my three daughters about this car and this adventure when I was 14. They all married, and had families of their own. Then, one day, I got wind, through my wife, that my daughters wanted to buy a ’57 Chevrolet Bel Air as a present for me for my 70th birthday. My wife said, before they go buy some jalopy, go talk to them. So I did.

We agreed that the car had to be identical to my father’s car from when I was young—a four-door Bel Air in the same colors. And it had to be within budget.

I went to Minneapolis looking for a car. I looked around Maryland and Virginia. Then, I found the right car at a dealership in Indianapolis, and had it shipped to my house. It arrived on Aug. 18, 2018, one day before my 70th birthday. My family threw a party for me, with a birthday cake that had a toy car on top.

This car was originally purchased by a woman in North Carolina, with power steering, power brakes, air conditioning—but no radio. According to the car’s records, it was delivered to her in November of 1957 for $2,717.04.

It is a wonderful car, truly spectacular. It represents a time when the American auto was at its height, globally, for the first time. And for me, it brings back so many happy memories.

Write to A.J. Baime at [email protected].

2024-01-12T19:03:07Z dg43tfdfdgfd