A mechanic’s son spent nine months refurbishing his father’s pride and joy, a 1946 Cadillac bought 50 years prior, so that the elderly veteran could drive the car one last time on his 102nd birthday.
Passionate about cars, the older man, Wilburn “Walt” West, was born on May 17, 1920, the eldest of 15 children. He dropped out of school in the eighth grade to earn money for his family before serving during World War II and later worked for 38 years as a forklift driver in a warehouse while raising his family in Pampa, Texas.
Walt purchased his ’46 Cadillac in 1974.
“When my dad grew up, no one had cars; they walked to school, they rode on horses,” Walt’s 73-year-old son Harry West, a retired biologist from Canyon, told The Epoch Times. “Grandpa finally got a Model T Ford. That’s probably the first thing my dad ever drove.”…