Welcome! I'm Sal, and I've spent the last fifteen years restoring old convertibles in a two-bay garage on the west end of Williams, right on old Route 66 about an hour from the Grand Canyon. In 1996 a couple visiting from Ohio asked if they could rent my '57 Chevy for an afternoon to drive to the Canyon rim with the top down. I said sure. They came back sunburned and grinning, and I realized I was in a new line of work.

Today I have four cars available for rent by the day or the weekend. They are not show cars behind a rope. They are drivers: tuned, safety-checked, insured, and meant to be enjoyed with the top down and the radio on. Whether you want a cruise to the Canyon, a getaway car for your wedding, or the right car for a photograph you'll hang on the wall for forty years, I can put you behind the wheel.

This is a one-man shop. When you call, you get me. When you pick up the car, I hand you the keys myself and walk you around it. I like it that way.

No photos on the page yet — the shots I took in July are at the drugstore getting developed, and then I have to figure out the scanner. Until then, here is what you get, in words. Every car is a factory convertible, not a cut-down hardtop, and every one has seat belts front and rear (I added them where the factory didn't).

All four cars are the same price. Prices include insurance and a full tank; bring it back full or I fill it and add the gas at the pump price, no markup. A $500 deposit by cash, check or credit card is held at pickup and returned when the car comes back the way it left. Arizona sales tax is extra. Rates good through December 31, 1999.

Not many, but I mean every one of them. These cars are forty years old and some of the parts don't get made anymore.

• Drivers must be 25 or older with a valid driver's license and at least five years of driving. I'll take a copy of the license. Only the drivers on the paperwork drive the car.
• No smoking in the cars, top up or top down. The upholstery is original or original-style and it holds the smell forever.
• 100 miles included on a day rental (300 on a weekend), 50 cents a mile after. The odometers work; I check them.
• Paved roads only. No dirt roads, no washboard, no "shortcut" to the overlook. The Canyon, Flagstaff, Seligman, Kingman and Sedona are all fine on pavement.
• Seat belts on, everybody, and kids in the seats the law requires.
• Put the top up if it rains and pull over to do it; the tops are manual on two of the cars and I'll show you how. If you get caught in a monsoon downpour in August, get under a gas station canopy and wait it out. I've done it a hundred times.
• No racing, no burnouts, no towing, and no driving the GTO if you told me you could drive a stick and it turns out you can't. We'll swap you into the Mustang, no hard feelings.
• Something goes wrong? Every car has my number on a card in the glove box. Old cars sometimes have opinions. Call me before you call anybody else and I'll come get you.

About a third of my business now is weddings, and I've done about forty of them. The bride and groom leave the church in the Bel Air or the Cadillac with the top down and cans on the bumper (I supply the cans; they're tied on with proper twine so they don't scratch), and the photographer gets the shot everybody wants.

Wedding dates in May, June, September and October go fast. Book early, and a $100 deposit holds the date.

• The Canyon run. Williams to the South Rim on Highway 64, about 60 miles each way, top down through the pines. Leave at nine, lunch at the rim, back by six. This is the day trip nine out of ten renters take, and none of them have been sorry.
• Old 66 west to Seligman. About 45 miles of the real old road, two lanes, through Ash Fork. The stretch of Route 66 west of here is one of the longest pieces still in one piece anywhere. Stop for a malt.
• Flagstaff and back for dinner on a summer night. About 35 miles each way. Put the top down for the stars on the way home.
• Red rocks. Sedona by way of Flagstaff and Oak Creek Canyon is a beautiful drive, but it's a little over the 100 miles round trip, so figure on ten or fifteen dollars in extra miles. Twisty; take the Mustang.
• Anniversaries. Get the car you courted in, or the closest thing to it. I have had three couples who met in a '57 Chevy rent Rosie for their fortieth. I hand them the keys and go inside for a minute.

Route 66 Classic Car Rentals
Sal Ricci, owner
On old Route 66 at the west end of Williams, Arizona (look for the red '57 out front)

Hours: Tuesday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., March through November. Sunday pickups and returns by arrangement. Closed Mondays because that's when I do the oil changes. December through February I'm open by appointment only; the cars don't like the cold and neither do I.

Reservations: Call (555) 555-0166 or [email protected]. E-mail gets answered every evening. A reservation is confirmed when I have your deposit. Summer weekends and the Canyon season fill up two or three weeks ahead; wedding dates, longer.

If I'm out on a delivery when you call, the machine will get it and I'll call you back that day. Thanks for looking, and I hope to hand you the keys soon.

— Sal