Old Car Poem by Robert Eckstein

The old car in the impound lot
Could tell you many tales.
It looks a rusty beater
But drives like it's on rails.
The emblem on the hood says 'FORD'
But a Caddy lurks inside;
The heavy springs in back announce
It was a 'legger's ride.

From hillsides down in Tennessee
Filled with 'shine it ventured forth
To take its load of whiskey
To cities in the North.
The boys from Revenue would lurk
In by-ways on the side
But Billy-Bob outran them all
When he couldn't duck and hide.

His daughter Peggy got the car
When she went off to school.
She turned donuts in the parking lot,
Her friends said, 'Wow, that's cool! '
She married Sam and settled down.
The old car soldiered on,
With loads of laundry, loads of kids,
With tools to tend the lawn.

The fifties came, the fifties went,
The sixties passed also;
The family had grown so large
The old car had to go.
'Let's make one last run for old time's sake.'
Peggy said to Sam.
'The car is fast as ever.
'We won't get in a jam.'

They would have made it all the way,
Of that there is no doubt,
But one small detail tripped them up;
A taillight was burned out.
A routine stop. A routine search.
The Agents seized the car.
Sam and Peggy got off easy
And are happy as they are.