A gift of love is a surprise Christmas present
Last Christmas Eve, as Dick Weber and his family left mass at St. Agnes Catholic Church, he spotted a 1961 Chevy Bel Air hardtop.
“That’s my car,” he blurted as the car drove around the corner. “That’s just like the car I want.”
He didn’t see that his son, David, from San Diego, was behind the wheel.
“That is your car,” said his son Michael.
Weber said he was speechless. “David has a big heart like his mom,” Weber said. “He likes to make people feel good.”
As David wrote in an e-mail, “The look on his face as I drove around the corner is one I will never forget and will always hold a special place in my heart. Finally I was able to surprise dad and give him such a special gift.” This was that third car that David bought while trying to find just the right one.
This story began several years ago when Weber and David saw a ’61 bubble top Bel Air at Wagner’s Classic Cars in Bonner Springs. The car is called a bubble top because the roof pillars are thin and delicate and the back window is huge.
“You could always see the gleam in his eye whenever he was in the presence of one or was thinking about one,” wrote David.
About five years ago, David bought a 1961 Bel Air in Florida on eBay but when Weber went to get it he discovered it was nothing more than a pile of rust sitting in a ditch. He left it as he found it and came home empty-handed.
A couple of years later, David found a ’61 Bel Air two-door in California and had it shipped here. It was not a bubble top and it needed considerable work, but it was a ’61 Bel Air. Weber still has it.
David kept looking for the elusive bubble top, and found one about a year ago in West Palm Beach. But he lost his phone and with it, the seller’s contact information. He figured the car was gone.
About 10 days before Christmas, David received a text from the man asking if he was still interested in the car. The car was shipped to Weber’s daughter, Molly Voris, and it arrived here on Christmas Eve.
Weber, soon to be 65, retired in 2007 after 35 years with the post office. His wife, Marianne, works at Village Presbyterian Church. As youngsters, the couple lived four houses apart near 71st and Metcalf. They grew up together, never dated anyone else and have been married for 42 years. They have six children and six grandchildren.
Weber wants to take this car on a cross-country trip on Route 66.
“At least now they are one step closer to accomplishing the ultimate dream,” David wrote. “My parents are nothing short of amazing. They are living saints upon this earth . . . they have always put others before themselves and sacrificed so much for the family growing up, and still do today. They sent all six of us kids to Catholic school from pre-school through high school. I don’t think there is anything we can do to thank them enough for everything they have done for us. I think I can safely speak for the rest of the five Weber children when I say we love to spoil them every chance we get.”
Talk about Christmas spirit.
