Car club got a real classic 100-year-old

Members of Red Wing’s Phantoms Motor/Model Club don’t need a vehicle. Which is a good thing for Louise Gustafson. She has never even had a driver’s license.

Yet, the 100-year-old became the car club’s most senior member on Friday. The lifelong back-seat driver is also the group’s first honorary member.

“ I think it’s quite an honor” she said Friday, surrounded by family and friends. “I’m 100, and they wanted an antique member.”

Phantoms members were smitten by Gustafson after meeting her earlier this summer at Fairview Seminary Plaza.

The group spends the warmer months traveling to area nursing homes with their old cars, putting a smile on residents’ faces and stirring up memories of Ford Model Ts and other vehicles.

They were shocked when they stumbled upon Gustafson.

“The remarkable memory she has is unreal,” said Phantoms president Ron Bystrom. “With her memory, it just makes some of the members feel so great.”

Phantoms member Arlan Vollan agreed.

“People like this lady should be celebrated,” he said. “She just blew us away.”

While honored, Gustafson admits she was a bit shocked at the idea of becoming an honorary member. She tooled around a bit in trucks on her family farm but shied away from vehicles after her two brothers were killed in car crashes.

Since then, she’s found a home in the passenger seat.

“I just rode along and was glad to have a good driver,” she said.

Gustafson never applied for a driver’s license because she “never cared about it,” though she did have a learner’s permit.

Phantoms member Bill McKinley said Gustafson’s lack of wheels is quite all right with him and the rest of the car lovers.

“It’s more about the enthusiasm than it is the actual vehicles,” McKinley said.

Published Saturday, October 11, 2008 - Republican Eagle
By Jen Cullen

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