By�Rick Minter
The�Atlanta�Journal-Constitution
Published on: 12/22/07

Cars make great Christmas gifts, as many a recipient can attest. But few have given as much lasting enjoyment to as many people as the one Karen Emory gave her husband a few years back.

Herb Emory, "Captain Herb" to listeners of WSB Radio's morning traffic reports and Saturday NASCAR talk shows, had always been hard to buy for, she said.

"For years, every time you'd ask him what he wanted for Christmas he'd always say he wanted a 1958 to 1963 Ford," she said.

What Herb wanted was a Galaxie like the one Andy Griffith drove on "The Andy Griffith Show" in the early 1960s.

So she set about finding one, with the help of friends and family members. "I wasn't sure I'd even recognize one myself," she said.

But soon a possible candidate was located, a 1962 Ford Galaxie.

"It was in a field outside of Newnan," she said. "You could barely see the car it was so covered in tall grass."

She wrote down the phone number on the For Sale sign, tracked down the owner and talked her brother-in-law into going for a test ride. But the car's condition had them a little wary.

"We carried a fire extinguisher in the car with us," she said.

But the car passed its check ride, so she purchased it and had it spruced up and painted. The initial work included a set of "Mayberry" decals and a red light on top.

The car was kept a secret from the Captain until a Christmas Day gathering with Karen Emory's family.

After a few presents were opened, Herb was sent to the basement to play with the grandchildren.

"I think he was kind of mad that he hadn't gotten much for Christmas," Karen Emory said.

What her husband didn't know was that the rest of the adults were outside, putting a big red bow on his "new" car.

When he saw it, his reaction was what one might expect from such a special gift.

"He cried like a baby," Karen Emory said.

Since that day, the Emorys have been steadily improving the car, thanks in large part to the mechanics at Allan Vigil's Ford dealerships, until recently the sponsors of Herb Emory's racing show, and to Mark Wallace of Jasper Engines and Transmissions and the people at Route 66 Restorations.

Emory even tracked down an authentic, period-correct Federal red light and siren, which were purchased from a company in�Arizona.

The car has made appearances in parades and events across metro�Atlanta�and has even been in the Mayberry Days parade in Andy Griffith's�Mount�Airy, N.C, hometown.

Emory said the best part about owning and showing the car is the reaction it gets from those who see it.

"The fun part is seeing the smiles and the laughs and hearing the hollering when you're driving it anywhere," he said. "Even if I just drive it three or four miles to get gas, I still never fail to get some sort of reaction from somebody along the way."

Karen Emory said it's like driving through the fictional town Mayberry.

"Anytime you drive it, it reminds you of that show and the good feeling you get from watching it," she said.

And as expected of a decades-old vehicle, the patrol car has given them some mechanical surprises.

Like last July Fourth, when Emory was set to drive his nephew, recently home from a tour of duty in�Iraq, in a parade in Douglasville. When it came time to leave the starting line, the car wouldn't start.

"My nephew had to get out and push," Emory said. "It acts like it's a 1962 car sometimes, but I'm amazed it does as well as it does. It still motors down the interstate at 70 to 75 miles an hour and feels good under you."

Anytime the Emorys take the car out, the conversation soon turns to the old TV show.

"I don't know that there will ever again be a show that can entertain as much and teach as many life lessons as 'The Andy Griffith Show' in the early years," Emory said.

The debate between the Emorys is which characters on the show they most resemble.

"When Herb's driving, he thinks he's Andy Griffith, but I say he's Barney Fife," Karen Emory said.

So which of the female roles does she fill?

"I could be Thelma Lou or Helen, of any of them," she said. "But I'm certainly not going to say Aunt Bee."