remembering Glen Martin AKA Con Vert
I fist met Glen and his lovely wife Gail more than 20 years ago. we went on a convoy to Ohio for a drag race /meet set up bu GTAMC founders Scot Springer and Fab Fioco. Somehow we hit it off, and have been friends ever since.
I remember several years when Glen invited us to their Christmas partys. If there was one thing besides cars that he loved, it was Christmas. When we pulled up to the house, it was generously decorated outside with lights and Santas. Inside was like a fantasy land. Every table, every shelf, every nook and cranny, had some sort of Christmas decorations. As a Jew, i was fascinated with all the paraphernalia.
Glen was passionate about his cars.
When I met him he had a strawberry red Foxbody {eventually my son Noah ended up with that car's modified engine} that he was fanatic about. At one cruise in, that car took a trophy for best paint.
Eventually the Fox went, replaced by a 2000-era grey convertible, and then Tim's overdone black 2000 coupe. At the same time, he bought a white dodge minivan, which unfortunately was something of a lemon. That car got replaced by a white Chrysler 300.
Eventually that went as well. By now he's sold the vert and the black Mustang, Along came a Cadillac sT-4.
somewhere in there, and to be honest i'm unsure of the timing, a 1964 T-Bird came along. He both loved and hated the car. It was gorgeous, and a pleasure to drive, but mechanically very complicated, and ultimately unreliable.
Unfortunately,the caddie had some major paint flaws and after months of "discussions" with GM it got traded for a Caddy ct-5, which he still had.
But the itch remained. Not long after, a stunning white on red 2021 Mustang GT vert made it's home in Glen's driveway.
About 12 years ago, i began calling him every week, eventually making that call every Thursday. It was kind of a running joke between us. I'd call, and say Hey glen, it's Thursday, and that was enough reason to justify the call. Some times the call was only 5 or 10 minutes, often an hour or more.
We talked about anything and everything. About our cars, and about what to buy, and toys, and wives (only good stuff)and especially about health.
Glen had some major health concerns, and at one point seemingly didn't expect to make it to age 65. He was almost suicidal. But things got better. For the last year or two, for the most part, he was feeling fine and in good spirits.
Two years or so ago, he had a seizure, and lost his driver's licence for a few months. To say he was beside himself about this was an understatement. He even let me drive his Caddy to the tire shop to have his snows put on.
3 weeks ago I had my own health emergency, and had to have a pacemaker "installed". Glen called me every single day to see how i was. He also had one, and we commiserated on having them , and "being of an age" to need such a thing.
Last Thursday, he had the roof of his house redone. Of course it was Thursday, so we had a good conversation about the whole thing. Next day, last Friday, i spoke to him in the late afternoon. The roof was done, and he was in a great mood. We talked a bit more, and he was planning to put the top down and "go for a drive" the next day, with glorious weather predicted. He eventually signed off "I'll speak to you next Thursday, Steve. "
A few hours later, he was gone.
I'm sort of glad he went quickly. Glen was a bit of a curmudgeon. Had he survived the seizure, he would have bitched long and loud about the hospital: the food; the nurses; the doctors; the confinement. He would have been incensed about losing his license a second time. Actually "infuriated" would have been a better word.
In the words of someone else on this board, he was "a good dude". I miss him already.
