By David Simmons
NORCROSS, Ga. | Everybody in my age group just has to have a story, a memory about the song by The Looking Glass, Brandy You’re a Fine Girl. It was everywhere in 1972.
Simmons’ 1970 Ford Mustang
My story goes back to 1966. When the United Auto Workers, went out on strike, my dad, who worked Light Up and Break Down at the Indianapolis Ford Steering Plant on East Washington Street, being a good Union member, decided to go out and find temporary employment, since he had no idea how long the strike would last.
He hired on at Custom Metal Industries (CMI), owned and operated by Don Pope. I was only 11 years old, so the particulars are beyond me. He worked for Don until the strike ended, but the good will forged by my father came back and blessed me five years later.
At the end of my sophomore year in high school, when I was 16, my dad took me over to Custom Metal Industries and introduced me to Don. He told Don I needed a summer job. Don smiled, and said, “If he is able to do half as good as you did, your son’s got a job with me.”
So that began a string of five out of six summers I worked at Custom Metal. The only exception was the summer of gas lines and inflation (1973), where the economy was so bad that Don couldn’t use me, or any other temporary summer help, as usual, even though it was the peak time for his business. So instead I went to Toledo, Ohio to find work. (That is a whole another story for another time.)
But in the summer of 1972 I was starting my third summer at CMI. Summer being the busy season, Don had also hired a friend of mine, Fred Carpenter, who was without wheels at the time. Therefore, every weekday morning that summer I picked Fred up in my 1970 Ford Mustang at his house at 10 minutes after 7 so we could make it to work by 7:30.
We always listened to WIFE 1300 AM in my Mustang on the way to work, and every morning that entire summer at 7:15 they played Brandy You’re a Fine Girl.
And Fred and I rocked it out. I mean, we sang along and rocked side to side so much that there were times that I was afraid we were going to flip the car over on its side. And because of that song, we always arrived at work in a good frame of mind, enthusiastic, happy and eager to put in a good day’s work.
So, whenever Brandy You’re a Fine Girl comes on the stereo, my mind goes back to that summer of 1972. If your memories are half as good as mine, you probably had a great summer too.
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