My uncle Spencer Bohren is a jazz musician from Louisiana. He’s had this ’55 Chevy Bel-Air since, well forever, I guess. I think it just crossed 900,000 miles. Well, it was destroyed in Hurricane Katrina, and he’s having it restored as a symbol of American willpower and determiniation. The only problem is that his livelihood is in jeopardy and their house was destroyed as well. I’m sure the life of a jazz musician is pretty humble already (kinda like being a pastor, haha) so to have this taken away must have been a really hard knock.

Anyhow, I wanted to post a clip from his site and mention that he’s taking donations – he’s several thousands of dollars into raising the $14,000 needed to make it perfect again. Either way it’s a great story to read … click on the picture for the full story:

On the morning of August 29th, Hurricane Katrina visited New Orleans and left in her wake a disaster of biblical proportions. New Orleans East was one of the hardest-hit areas, and we naturally assumed that the Chevy was lost.

And make no mistake, the Chevy has indeed sustained considerable water damage. Tevis, however, once I finally managed to track him down, refused to let it go. His
family’s house had ten feet of water in it for two weeks; his wife and kids are evacuated indefinitely to Jackson, Mississippi; most of his tools, equipment and
office are ruined; his shop is seriously damaged, and still, he refuses to let the Chevy go.

When I say, “My house is ruined and I have no money to spend on the Chevy,” he says, “You already paid me.”

I say, “That was before the hurricane added all this water and mud into the equation.”

He says, “But I made a promise.”

I say, “I’m letting you off the hook.” He gets frustrated and replies, “That car can be fixed!

Read the rest here.

JG