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The Big Green Car Page

The Big Green Car Page

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Car and driver, in happier days. Photo by my uncle, Robert Gibson

In Memoriam

In January of 1996 I suffered the tragic loss of an old family member -- this 1972 Ford Galaxie 500 / Country Sedan station wagon. The car was purchased by my parents in October 1971. It was a faithful steed from that time onward, most recently serving me in grad school. I had hoped to extend its life for a full 25 years, but a large repair estimate from the garage put an end to that.

Many friends who experienced the joy of the Big Green Machine over the years extended condolences to me in my time of loss. As much as I still appreciate their kind words of sympathy, I am also consoled by countless fond memories of a car that didn't so much drive as sail, didn't so much steer as aim, and filled interstate hatchback drivers with terror. Alas, the terror is gone now, and the world is a smaller place. Requiescat in pace.

Big Green Car Haiku

On the day I learned the end had arrived, I was moved to write this haiku: 

     The monster green car
     In pre-Watergate splendor
     Gleams now at sunset
Others have been in contact with the Muse. A sample: 
     The end has come now
     No longer the gas-guzzler
     Will travel the road

                 -Joni Johnson



     Green car, time turns brown,
     Some important stuff falls off.
     Still, we keep driving.

                 -Scott Dorsey



     We mourn this great loss,
     O fellow Seventies soul,
     My Gremlin and I.

                 -Lynn Matthews



     A celestial home
     Roads - where the big green machine
     Can drive forever

                 -Phil Wilcox



     You're tearing my heart
     Contoured steel and sex appeal
     Junk disposition

                 -Robert Gibson   



     Gasping rudderless
     Seven-cylinder swan song
     The hiss of the torch

                 -Robert Gibson   



     Import enemy
     Mass tonnage unstoppable        
     Japan left weeping

                 -Chris Jones



     Cannot buy the road
     The Big Green Car covers much
     We own a large piece

                 -Bruce Baker



     Green? no way in hell!
     This machine drank gas like milk
     Fortz 'bsence, Shell's ticked

                 -Jerrad Pierce



     Polly and V8
     Travelling other roads
     Becoming brown dust

		-Heath Dunn



     The dusty window glass
     Of the big green car
     A haiku on it

		-NundhaaKumaarun



     The sight of the sky
     With reddish clouds
     In Big Green's rear view mirror

		-NundhaaKumaarun



     Honk with some relief
     You gold old green Galaxie
     Five doors, no waiting

		-John Knaup



     8-track jamming War
     Fearsome to deer, cows alike
     Roar-- the Matador!

		-Tom Powers



     The interstate sighs,
     Longs for lost days when cars like 
     Big Green ruled the road.

		-Greg Moore



     In the desert heat
     I drove one but wrecked it
     So I bought another

		-Adam Taylor



     Gas is cheap no more
     Pricy now to drive a lot
     I go not as far

		-Adam Taylor



     Expansive highways
     Mostly big cars own the road
     Oh to have one green

		-Adam Taylor



     When in Big Green Car
     Do not fear to have a wreck
     It is made of steel

		-Adam Taylor



     Big green cars are cool
     Old ones are the best to drive
     God rest their poor souls

		-Rob Hilka



     The sun always
     Rises and sets behind
     My big green car

		-NundhaaKumaarun


     V8 three-fifty
     Kick butt transmission
     AM radio

		-Andy Hoke



     Celica Toy-o
     5 speed and fuel injected
     It's just not the same

		-Andy Hoke



     Gigantic and green
     Highway aphrodisiac
     The world mourns its loss

		-Hunter Choate



     A car cuts me off
     I rev Big Green Car's engine
     The driver goes pale

		-Wendy Dinsmore



     My eyes fill with tears
     Nostalgia overcomes me
     I miss my green car!

		-Wendy Dinsmore



     Bruce, Blue Whale Chevy,
     Saddened older survivor;
     Tears rust young Green Ford

		-Barb Dunn



     Shape in the distance
     Hurtling down the highway
     Flash of green roars by

		-Ian Castellucci



     Praise the big green car
     Everything that was
     All that is lost now

		-Ruth R. Hoath



     Great green Ford now rests
     Beside my green Dodge Charger
     Witness to high school

		-Robin Rowan



     Shall we sail again
     On open roads beloved?
     I think, perhaps, not.

		-Chris Brunt



     Hail! Rare Five Fourteen!
     Both aspects: nanometers
     And cubic inches.

                -Dan Nutley
If you feel inspired to write Big Green Car Haiku, please send it to me and I will post it here as an interactive memorial. I reserve the right to reject inappropriate material, or to make slight editorial changes.

Poems that do not meet the generally accepted definition of English haiku may wind up in other categories below. This definition requires a total of 17 syllables, usually broken into lines of 5, 7, and 5; however, less than 17 syllables are also acceptable. For details, see links off the Yahoo! haiku index.

Lazy poets can of course consult the Haiku-O-Matic server, but your odds of getting something about Big Green Cars are rather low.

Big Green Car Near-Haiku

These contributions are in the Haiku spirit, but do not quite fit the strict requirements above. 
     Great green machine
     possesing heart
     consuming pavement
     caring for family
     with no end in sight.

		-John Folletto



     Glorious days --  power and swift
     graceful age -- dignity in motionless:
     For the wheels turn no more.

		-Surya Challa



     A car, the colour green
     Never to ride the rolling hills again
     The awesome loss

		-Natalie Watson



     With his thumb on the button
     The green behemoth screamed
     And the crusherman cries

		-R. C. Tassie



     Wagon by Ford
     Loved by owner
     Now driven by angels on the eternal highway

		-Dan LeFever



     You sat on the lot
     Sadly as we drove away
     I'll miss you always, friend

		-William Wright



     Made no excuses
     Encapsuled by existence
     A joy to behold

		-John Conyers



     Oh their envy swells
     Everyone wants a land yacht
     Especially one that works

		-Adam Taylor



     Roses are red and violets are blue
     My beautiful Big Green car 
     Oh how I still love you!

		-Bob Butterley


     Like leaves in autumn, dead
     Once green, now brown rust
     Still glows green in heaven

		-Caleb G


     I mourn your Big Green
     But a cute diesel Fiat Panda
     Gets 76 highway MPG.

		-John O'Renick

Big Green Car Non-Haiku

Though compactness of form is desirable in poetry (less so in automobiles), superseptadecasyllabic verse also has the power to move. Non-Haiku meters, with the absolute exception of limericks, are equally welcome: 

     The big car was Green
     Its tires were black.
     Farewell fine machine
     With engine out of whack.

                 -Andrea Schweitzer



            1972 Ford Wagon

     Wrought prior the crunch of '73
     With iron 400 c.i.d.
     Great green sled of '72
     Down on its springs sits quietly

     24 years through snow sleet fog
     23 viewed as a gas guzzling hog
     At its station as a wagon
     130K now shows on the log

     Large device, expanse of glass
     Laden low with leaded gas
     Sheets of plywood in the back
     50 lbs nails 1% of the mass

     3 Yugos drafting in the mirror
     Freighter still in second gear
     Rolling road block moving out
     Exhausting glimpse of yesteryear

     Big pile of Fords asleep in the sky
     Great green sled can no longer deny
     It's time to quit and reconsign
     The tin we love to touch good-bye

                 -Robert Gibson   



     So big and Green,
     know what I mean?
     It's all moving fast,
     the last great oval reed.
     A farmer's dream in a mass,
     while the grasses gasses last,
     it's not long enough for me.

                 -Aaron Isenagle



     The big green car was more than a ride.
     I kept it clean and new.
     I miss my buddy, the big green car --
     God, if you only knew.

     I took it everywhere I went;
     I repaired it more times than not.
     Now it's new wheels I must find:
     the big green car had rot.

     Times a-change, people change, 
     but I thought it would never end.
     I hated giving up that car,
     my big old green car friend.

		-Debi Fisher



     Pale yellow green
     2 Gremlins long
     Phony wooden sides
     Creedance Clearwater song

     Suburban "class"
     Country Squire LTD
     Conspicuous consumption
     The Bradys on TV

     Plastic vinyl & chrome
     Reality was fake
     With room for 9
     An adolescent ride I'd take

     Dearborn's offspring 
     The big '72
     A fortune I'd spend
     For one more hour in you.

		-

Big Green Car Image Art

Astonishingly, I have also had a graphic submission. Clearly some people's inspiration extends beyond mere words. Click on the thumbnail for a larger version. 

     

		-Eric Hochberger

A Few Other Sites of Interest

Over the years I've learned of other sites on the subject of large and often green vehicles of similar vintage. A few of these are listed below. Some others have been removed as the sites have apparently disappeared.

Steven Gibson