Just Cool Cars: Termite Taxi is duct-taped dreamboat
SEASIDE, Calif. — Some cars probably deserve to be put out of their misery. Then there is the "Termite Taxi."
Its owner, Tevie Smith of Vancouver, B.C., simply revels in the 1947 Chrysler's deplorable state. The seats are patched with rolls of duct tape. Patches of rotting wood on its sides are covered by sheets of vinyl flooring, the kind with fake wood grain, of course.
To Smith, the worse the car gets, the better he likes it. The Chrysler Town and Country's status as a rolling wreck only adds to its mystique.
And for that matter, so does having an owner as colorful as Smith, 80. He flies U.S. and Canadian flags from the car's roof and when we caught up with him here in Seaside at the Concours d'LeMons in late summer, he had brought along wife Lisa Mary Suchy and their mutt, T.T. (How does Suchy feel about riding thousands of miles in the Termite Taxi? "It's an adventure," she concedes.)
Smith has driven the car all over North America over the 40 years that he has owned the Chrysler, winning a host of major car rallies. He has driven it to the East Coast of the U.S. and as far south as Mexico City. He says he covered a 15,000-mile trip in 1995 without a single breakdown.
"I have an incredible mechanic," he explains about how he manages to keep the car running.
One thing that's not incredible is the gas mileage. It's about five miles a gallon.
Is there a point to this madness? Absolutely, he insists. It's just to make friends and put a smile on faces.
"I love talking to people when I go down the highway," Smith says. "I get a picture taken every mile."