A Car to Carry a Love Story

There are two things that Buzz and Ginny Potter have a lot of: love and cars.

The two have been inseparable since Buzz took Ginny out in his 1936 Ford in January 1941. Sixty-seven years later, he hasn't given up her or the car. When the two celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary in May, Buzz again took Ginny for a ride in the Ford.

But that's not the only vehicle that the two have kept for sentimental reasons. Buzz, 90, counts about a dozen at their home in Montgomery County, including the 1931 Harley-Davidson they rode on their honeymoon and a 1929 Packard that two of their four children rode in on their wedding days.

"Sometimes I stumble over them, there are so many," Ginny, 84, says with a laugh.

But Ginny doesn't really mind. She seems to love the cars just as much as her husband does. For 40 years, the two rented out cars to moviemakers, which Ginny recalls as "pretty exciting" even if she ruined a shoot once when she yelled that an actor was about to hit a curb. She didn't get to go near that scene again, she says with another laugh.

Their cars have starred in "Tora! Tora! Tora!," "War and Remembrance" and "The Other Side of Midnight." One memorable shoot was for a television biography about Jacqueline Kennedy. Charlie's Angel Jaclyn Smith had to drive one of the Potters' cars, so Buzz got to hang around. Buzz says he remembers thinking, "Man, I am getting paid for this? I would have done this for free."

The only problem? Smith couldn't drive a stick.

Buzz and Ginny laugh at the memory. There are so many wrapped up in their cars. They remember sitting together in the '36 Ford when the announcement was made that Pearl Harbor had been attacked. Milestones in their lives and marriage have been marked by the cars that they were in, and that is a reason Buzz says his garage is a one-way street. He only buys cars; he doesn't sell them.

But there was one car he did sell a long, long time ago. The 1931 Essex was his car when he was a student at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School. He sold it and 46 years later saw a similar one for sale. He bought it, and as he began working on it (he still does all his own work), he noticed some similarities and realized to his delight that it was the same car.

Now the Essex and the '36 Ford sit together in the garage as Buzz points to them. "That's my high school friend, that's my college friend."

And next to him, smiling as always, is Ginny, his best friend.