Most car enthusiasts restore antique automobiles for the challenge.
Joe Licciardello of Hudson has a more personal investment. After his wife of 48 years died in 2003, Licciardello, 80, remembered his wife, Mary, once quipped that someday she wanted to “fix up one of those antique cars.” So, he set out to fulfill that dream. Within a year of her death, Licciardello found a 1957 Ford Fairlane in Virginia that was in decent shape, and he soon started to restore the vehicle.
Countless hours and dollars later, the retired engineer has a classic automobile he named “Sweet Mary” that won the People’s Choice award for the Best Modified division at the 33rd annual Kiwanis Car Show this past weekend.
Licciardello wanted a car that harkened back to the end of the Hot Rod era of his youth, the late ’50s. “I wasn’t wild but I wasn’t mild either,” he said.
But the main reason was to honor his wife.
“I know she’d like it.”