She was a beautiful young woman, and she was styling herself in a manner that expressed this self-realization in a new way. Her manner of dress probably rubbed my mom the wrong way because: a.) Lutheran b.) my mom and c.) the less demure way Ellen was now presenting herself was somewhat removed from the church girl next door. Quite the opposite: to me, she looked chic, in control, and a bit intimidating – and all by design. My old babysitter certainly didn’t look like she had spent the previous night headbanging at Contos, the local live rock music venue (though it’s entirely possible she might have been). Maybe that last adjective is too strong a word, but I do remember my mom talking to my dad about whether or not the leather skirt in question was appropriate for walking up the center aisle for communion.Īs I recall, Ellen’s leather skirt was neither short, nor skin-tight. Seemingly all of a sudden, there was a black leather maxi-skirt, short hair with blonde-frosted tips (long before Madonna underwent the “True Blue” blonde chop), nicely fitting knit sweaters, and a generally sullen change in her facial expressions, mannerisms, and way of speaking that I found disconcerting. At some point later on, my parents decided that my older brother was mature and responsible enough to make sure the younger two Dennises didn’t burn the house down when they were both away for whatever reason, so Ellen was essentially “laid off” by our family as would have been the case in the early-to-mid 1980s for many people in the Flint area who had worked for General Motors.įrom that point on, I would see Ellen only on Sunday mornings at Our Savior Lutheran, but by maybe my fifth grade year, I started noticing some changes in my former babysitter. I theorize that this comes innately with the territory of being a middle child. I refuse to believe I was that much of a handful, simply because my default setting has always seemed to be that of peacekeeper (most of the time). My early memories of her and what kind of a ship she ran at the Dennis house when left in charge of us three boys aren’t crystal clear, but based on the number of other babysitters I had heard we had besides Ellen (Jodi, Jill, etc.) and with her being one of the last, I came to the conclusion that the spirited liveliness of the Dennis brothers might have made order somewhat challenging to maintain in the absence of our parents. Our folks were friends, even if I don’t remember going to Ellen’s house for dinner, but having that church connection and the recommendation of Ellen’s parents certainly must have been supplemental to her landing the job. Her family and mine attended the same church, which must have been an automatic plus for my parents. All in all, this is not a show car but looks to be a fun driver.One of my regular babysitters when I was a young kid was a friendly young lady named Ellen. There are a switch and gauge added to the dash bezel on the interior, a toggle switch under the dash, some embroidery on the seats and the steering console is black instead of red. The Trans Am has been repainted at least one time and appears to have 1979 decals on it. The paint looks pretty good but a peak to the rear of the car indicates that the 1978 taillights have been switched out for the blacked-out 1979 tail lights. If it had the 15″x8″ aluminum wheels, this would indicate that the car is equipped with the optional WS6 suspension package. The car has T-tops, aftermarket radio and speakers, air conditioning, automatic transmission, and the factory 15-inch Rally II wheels. The only options I don’t see are power windows, tilt steering, and power locks. The red velour interior is pretty swanky but in excellent condition. An interesting tidbit is that this car is equipped with the W72 400 cubic inch V8 engine which was the top of the line performance motor for the Trans Am in 1978. If you read the description, that is exactly what the seller states. While the draft shaft and exhaust pipes show surface rust, the rest of the undercarriage looks as if this car has spent its life in California. As shown below, the engine breathes through headers and true dual exhaust with a cross-over pipe. The car is loaded with options and a few aftermarket goodies. The reserve is not met and the auction ends on Thursday afternoon. The odometer reads 28,800 miles and the car is currently bid to $10,600 here on eBay. This platinum silver 1978 Pontiac Trans Am is located in Cincinnati, Ohio and looks to be a very clean, low mileage car. The Pontiac Trans Am once again set new sales records in 1978 after the release of the movie Smokey and the Bandit in 1977.
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