convertible

1969 Convertible Catalina Pontiac

I was a spoiled child.

My parents GAVE me a car when I was 16.

I was so embarrassed by it.

The cool kids were driving Cameros and Firebirds. But I got a hand-me-down from my Mom. Her 1969 Convertible Catalina Pontiac.

The picture is almost exactly what it looked like… all the way to the hubcaps.

Because of her color and size, I named her “Tank”…. as in ‘army tank’ – because she was army green and the size of a tank. I think she weighed 3 tons and she guzzled gas like nothing else I’ve ever driven.

Why am I telling you this story? Because I think there’s a great link to business.

Hang with me here for a minute.

Cruising is what teenagers did in the mid 80’s. We would literally drive up and down either Memorial Drive in Tulsa or we’d go to Claremore and cruise main street.  We’d pull off and go hang out with kids we knew.

Convertible top down, Tank got LOTS of attention. There was NEVER a time when we were cruising that friends didn’t recognize us right off. As a teenager, the attention “Tank” brought made cruising FUN!

I was so naive about how cool that car was. I just wanted what I THOUGHT was the coolest cars…the sports cars…the Cameros and the Firebirds.

I will say again, I was a spoiled kid. SO….. I whined, complained and begged enough that my parents buckled and let me trade “Tank” for a Firebird. She looked something like the picture below, no ‘t-tops’ though.

Here’s an interesting fact. I don’t even remember what year she was! Ron (my hubby) thinks she was a 1978.

Here’s where I see the correlation with being a business owner…….

Doesn’t someone else’s success look better than our own?  We do everything we can to emulate those we consider to be the successful entrepreneurs.

But here’s what happened in my young life when I copied the cool kids.

Not a soul noticed.

When we drove down the road in a Pontiac Firebird…  NOT. A. SOUL. even looked twice. My friends didn’t recognize me. I blended in with every other car out there. There was NOTHING unique about it.

Cruising was no fun anymore.

All the fun we had, abruptly stopped.

And why?

Because I settled.

I bought into the hype.

I was the same as everyone else now.

Being like everyone else is not at all how God intended. He made us all individuals.

Here’s scripture to prove it….

Psalm 139: 14 The Passion Text

I thank you, God for making me so mysteriously complex!

Friends…..

We are mysteriously complex!!!

When we move away from our mysteriously complexness, we’re just like the rest. We become unnoticeable… just like my Firebird.

Where did this idea of copying someone else even come from anyway?

Certainly NOT God.

He uniquely created each of us. We are fearfully and wonderfully made.


Here’s an interesting statistic, in 1969 they manufactured exactly 5,436 Pontiac Catalinas 

I didn’t get mine until 1983. So… 14 years later, there were exactly zero of them in Tulsa. Much less a convertible. I had something incredibly unique and I traded it for something ordinary.

Friends…..

DON’T DO THIS!

Chase what God has placed in you that is unique and mysteriously complex!
Starting today, what can you do to be like the
‘1969 Convertible Pontiac Catalina’

in an oversaturated world of Firebirds?

PS: Send me a picture of your first car. I’d love to see it. 

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