After almost a year and a half of repairing her cherry red square-body long bed 1972 Chevrolet truck, junior Molly Rose Cloutier hopes to take her car to a drive-in movie to celebrate its completion. With a leather bench seat, leather steering wheel and metal window cranks the car is a true classic.
Molly Rose and her dad, Marc Cloutier, decided to restore a car because they believed it would be cheaper than buying a brand new truck and thought it would be a great opportunity to spend time together. They found a car on Facebook Marketplace in 2024, and they began researching it right away.
Restorations began with working on safety elements. This included replacing the brake system, fixing the engine and even replacing a door. After finishing these aspects, they moved on to the elements they found to be more enjoyable, such as getting a new paint job and replacing the stereo system.
“The experience of working with the car is really rewarding,” Molly Rose said. “When I drive that car, I think, wow; this car didn’t drive like this when we first got it. It didn’t have power steering, so you could barely make a right-hand turn. So I am really proud of the work I put into it, and it’s also honestly pretty stress relieving… So yes, I could have gotten a new car with fancy computers and everything, but I love my car, and I’m really grateful that I decided to take this project on.”
Neither Molly Rose or Marc had any previous experience working with cars, so they did a lot of research and spent time talking with professionals before they started working on the car. Once they began working on it, they used videos, articles and purchased the car’s manual to help understand the truck and its parts. Molly Rose particularly appreciated watching YouTube videos because they helped her best visualize the task.
While the goal was to have the car finished by the time Molly Rose got her license, the project is taking longer than expected due to unpredictable issues, such as rust and other elements Molly Rose and her father couldn’t fix on their own. Marc believes that despite these setbacks, the project has been a success because he has been able to learn a new skill while also teaching his daughter about how a car works.
“My hands-down favorite [thing] is that this is something that Molly and I share,” Marc said. “And we’ve had our ups and downs with it, success stories and failure stories, but it’s our project together, so that’s what’s most important.”
In addition to getting to spend time with her dad, Molly Rose enjoys working on the car because it is a relaxing activity where she can destress. According to Molly Rose’s mom Valerie Cloutier, the project has been a lot more physical than expected, but Molly Rose and Marc have figured it out together.
“It’s been really nice to see them working together on this project,” Valerie said. “It’s definitely something they’ve bonded on, and they’re both learning a lot and having fun together … It’s been really cool to watch and I can’t wait to see when it’s fully done.”
Molly Rose’s favorite part about working on the car is the people its helped her meet and bond with. In particular, Molly Rose enjoys talking to a mechanic at her local gas station who had the same car she does now. She enjoys hearing stories from his childhood that involve his car, including a story about how he took his wife out on their first date in it.
“A lot of older people and people in the shop where I’m from grew up driving these cars,” Molly Rose said. “It’s really fun to hear people’s nostalgic stories about the car that reminds them of mine…Cars have a community. I think people forget that sometimes, but people who like cool cars like each other too. So I think that’s definitely my favorite part: meeting new people.”
