Life is all about choices.

Saturday, August 21, 1999

Life is all about choices. Humankind makes them every day. Good ones, bad ones. Making a decision teaches responsibility. But whatever the choice, the one who makes it must be held accountable for that decision.

Nicki Bibus says she made the right choice. No ifs, ands or buts about it.

The 1964 Nash Rambler was the perfect choice for the first car she has ever owned.

Say what?

That’s right, Bibus, is 20, but has a 35-year-old car for the first vehicle in her life. Not a convertible, not a compact, not a cool pickup truck, but a "grandma’s car."

It’s black and a four-door with wide, white sidewalls and absolutely no extra chrome anywhere. No pin-striping either.

The only extra identification is a "Rambler 220" medallion on the trunk and another "Rambler" medallion on the front grille.

It has rubber floor mats and an AM radio.

It has a 90 horsepower engine and a 3-speed automatic transmission.

Seat belts, too.

It sold for $1,839 in 1964.

It is, to be sure, so plain, so simple, that many folks would call it "ugly."

But not Bibus, who adheres to the old adage that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

"It was love at first sight, when she drove in here," said Don Graff at Austin Auto Sales, 1100 10th Drive S.E. "When she drove in here and asked about, I knew she really wanted the car."

"This is just exactly what they meant by a ‘little old lady’s car," Graff said. "It was owned by a widow at Winona, who drove it only from May to November and the rest of the time, she parked it in her garage with a tarp over it."

"When she died, it was sold as part of her estate and a nephew of hers told me about it and I went to Winona and bought it," Graff said.

"The miles are guaranteed original, 5,200 when I bought it and sold it soon afterwards to Nicki Bibus. Now, she has a car that has earned a backseat full of trophies and is going up in value each year. It’s truly a one-of-a-kind," Graff said.

Charles William Nash was a pioneer in the automobile industry.

He became president of the Buick Motor Company in 1910, reorganized the company and made it financially successful.

Nash was elected president of the General Motors Company (now General Motors Corporation) in 1912, when it was close to bankruptcy.

The company prospered under Nash’s leadership, but Nash resigned in 1916 and bought the Thomas B. Jeffrey Company, an automobile firm from which evolved Nash Motors Company.

He remained president until 1932 and chairman of the board until he died in 1948.

The Nash firm merged with Hudson Motors in 1954 and became American Motors Company.

The Rambler sedan was one of the company’s signature vehicles, but who would want one 35 years after it rolled off the assembly line?

Bibus graduated Austin High School in 1997, attended Riverland Community College for two years and will study biology this fall at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls.

She is the daughter of Mike and Maureen Bibus, who live in Bellman Addition along U.S. Highway 218 south of Austin, where Mike Bibus has one of the best-known commercial photography studios in southern Minnesota and northern Iowa.

Her brother, Doug, is nutritional biologist at the Hormel Institute.

Growing up, her photography skills emerged early, but there was also flying. She held a solo pilot’s license and for awhile, there were aspirations to become a commercial airline pilot.

Now, it’s becoming a research scientist.

When she was commuting to classes at RCC-Austin a year ago, the little, black car parked in front of Austin Auto Sales caught her eye.

"I was driving by and there was this cute car and I just had to stop and see it," she said. "When I saw that it had only 5,200 miles on it, I thought they had made a mistake. That wasn’t possible for such an old car."

Bibus consulted her friend, Brian Christianson, son of Keith and Cindi Christianson. Also 20 and a 1997 AHS graduate, Christianson also attended RCC-Austin for two years, but is joining his friend, Mark Hollerud, at a Red Wing school for stringed instrument repair.

Christianson gave the car his personal seal of approval and told Bibus to buy it.

The last hurdle was obtaining her parents’ permission to invest her savings into the car.

"When I told my parents I wanted to buy a car, I remember my mother asking me ‘What kind of car?’ and I said ‘It’s a Rambler’ and they just couldn’t believe I would want a car like that," Bibus said. "Then I took them for a ride and they were all for it."

Two days after Bibus took possession of the car last July 2, 1998, it claimed its first trophy for the owner: first place in the Special Interest category at the 1998 Lyle Independence Day Classic Car Show.

A week later, it earned another first-place trophy at the Steele County Fair’s classic car show at Owatonna. Then, another car show and another award until Bibus and her friend Christianson went to Kenosha, Wis. for the annual reunion of American Motors Corporation, the final incarnation of car genius Nash’s successors.

There on the shores of Lake Michigan, the car astounded factory original owners. It was clean, it was polished, it was unchanged in any way. In other words, as near perfect as a car could be.

"People were stopping by and asking questions about it all the time and I even had a few offers to buy it right on the spot, but I declined," Bibus said.

The 1964 Rambler 220 was "as cheap as they came in those days," according to Bibus/ research "This was the base model with only one option, an $8 oil filter. A factory worker who built them told me that an AM radio and a heater were the only other extras you could get."

"It has a rare engine: a flat-head six cylinder one that they put in the 1923 Ajax," said Christianson. "1964 was the last year for that engine. The workers we talked to said it was the most dependable one they made at the time."

So, the little black car driven by the young woman, but only until winter, when it will be garaged until spring, will keep cruising down highways indefinitely. Winning trophies at car shows and causing people to marvel when they see how pristine it is

That mileage – under 6,000 and 35 years old – will surely raise skeptics’ eyebrows.

And the owner’s proclivity for trying different things will only be underlined. She also sings and plays bass in her friend Christianson’s band, Thunder Rose, and she and Brian have started a new bluegrass band of their own.

Bibus says she will always enjoy "flying for fun," but as no present plans to pursue a commercial pilot’s license. Finishing her college degree in biology is the current priority.

But, what does this really say about a young woman and the choice – albeit not as important as others – that she had made in her first car.

The man who sold it to her, Don Graff, said, "She’s a smart, sensible girl. The car is everything it was advertised to be and more. It’s a good investment no matter how long she keeps it."

In the year Bibus has owned the car, it has appreciated in value by $2,000, so as an investment it was, indeed, a smart one.

"I feel proud driving it," the owner said. "we call it ‘Little Orphan Annie’ or ‘Ethel’ and have joined the American Motors Owner Association and want to learn more about the car’s history."

The owner’s best friend, Brian Christianson, who has a classic 1966 Chevrolet Impala of his own, says of Bibus’ first car, "It’s one of a few and one of the best of its kind."

And Nicki Bibus, surely not close to the "little old lady" definition of the previous owner of the classic 1964 Rambler, pauses to think before answering.

"I guess," she said, "like the car, I’m an original. A one-of-a-kind person, who likes to try different things and do things out of the ordinary. I’m not afraid to take risks."