Wheels Of Love Promise Kept With Wife’s Gift Of Malibu To Husband
Almost 10 years ago, Caren Gilliland sold her husband’s white 1965 Chevy Malibu for $500 to feed and clothe their new baby.
It was a tough month and a tough decision. The car was Jon Gilliland’s baby. It wasn’t cherried out, but it ran well and had the sporty lines, the box shape and power that he liked. He bought the car in 1978, when he was 18.
They sold the car to another 18-year-old, and Caren promised her husband that she’d make it up to him.
“I always told him I would buy him a Chevy Malibu someday,” Caren Gilliland said.
That someday came Thursday, when Caren surprised her husband with a ‘65 Chevy Malibu that took a year of hard looking to find. The present was for Father’s Day, his 35th birthday and the couple’s 10th anniversary.
Jon Gilliland’s co-worker, Rick Turpen, finally found the car last week. Caren paid for it on Thursday and planted her surprise trap that night.
She was sneaky. She parked the car in her neighbor’s driveway, in the 3600 block of North Thor.
She made her husband go out on their deck after work. She expected him immediately to drool over the car. He didn’t see it.
Along with Turpen, Caren Gilliland pointed out the car.
“Is that an Impala?” she asked.
Silly, silly. Her husband knew the car was a Malibu. Turpen and Jon Gilliland argued over the Malibu’s year.
Still, he didn’t guess that the car was his. Caren Gilliland showed him the car’s “collector’s item” license plate, which wasn’t on yet. He still didn’t know. She tossed him the keys. He figured it out.
“Well, I’m shocked,” Gilliland said.
He squealed the tires in front of his house and took his new car for a spin of 1 1/2 miles. The kids were in the car, yelling “Hi” and waving at wheel-impaired pedestrians.
The car’s not the same as Jon’s first Malibu. It’s blue, not white. It has an automatic transmission, not stick shift. It has bench seats, not buckets.
Jon Gilliland said he’ll live with the switch. He was floored by his wife’s surprise.
“I’ve been waiting a long time for one of these,” Jon Gilliland said. “I’ve never lost my love for it.”
He plans to put in bucket seats and hopes to put in a stick. But he likes the color.
After a good tune-up and fine-tuning, the car should be ready for Raceway Park, Gilliland said.
The car needed no work to drive off last Thursday night. Jon and Caren Gilliland said goodbye to a sitter and drove down the street in Jon’s new blue machine.
They were off to Sea Galley for a celebration. It’s their place, ever since the anniversary that Jon Gilliland sent his wife a new dress and a note to meet him at Sea Galley for dinner.
“We’re just like the happiest couple in Spokane,” Caren Gilliland said. “I’m so happy.”
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo