Classic car has enduring love story
Photo by Tom Rivers – Brad and Pat Shelp stand by a car that played a key role in getting the couple together about 58 years ago when she was a teacher in Albion and he was selling cars at the Albion Motor Company.
ALBION – Pat Shelp used a bus and found other rides back and forth from Medina to Albion in 1956. But her father finally gave his blessing for her to get a car.
Shelp went to the Albion Motor Company and immediately liked a blue Chevy Convertible. She drove the 1954 car from Medina to her job as a speech teacher in Albion.
She loved the car, but the zipper for the back window didn’t work. She took it to the Albion Motor Company, which sent it to Spencerport for a repair.
When it was time to get her car, Brad Shelp offered to give her a ride. Mr. Shelp worked in sales at the Albion Motor Company.
That drive led to a date and in 1957 the couple married. They still own the car, which has about 58,000 miles on it.
“She has been a very good, reliable car,” Mrs. Shelp said during a classic car cruise-in this evening at the Don Davis Chevrolet Buick GMC dealership, where her husband still works in sales.
She joked that marrying her husband resulted in long-term care for her car.
“The service has been good,” she said. “I have no complaints.”
