EL PASO - Helen Burroughs slid behind the steering wheel of the restored 1931 Chevrolet Cabriolet and shifted into first gear. As she slowly let out the clutch and began driving, memories flooded back from more than 70 years ago. | Photo gallery

"Real happy memories," Burroughs, 97, said.

The vintage car makes her think of her late husband, Harold Burroughs, who died in 1983. When they met, he had a nearly identical car. They married July 5, 1932, and took the Chevy on their honeymoon.

Helen Burroughs is reliving those happy times again because her son, David Burroughs of Normal, presented her with a 1931 Chevrolet Cabriolet he'd found while traveling in Arizona.

"It's a dead-on exact car, black with red wire wheels," he said. He bought the car for many times its initial cost of $625 but says the money and shipping costs were worth it to see his mother's reaction.

On Mother's Day, he lured his mother outside her rural El Paso home under the pretense of showing her something new on his truck. "She looked over and saw it (the vintage car) and got a big smile on her face," he said.

"She was surprised," said David's sister, Kay Poorbaugh of El Paso. Her mother has always liked sporty cars and always considered the Cabriolet her favorite.

David Burroughs drove the car first as several family members watched. Then it was his mother's turn.

"It's a stick shift and I wasn't sure that she'd have the strength in her leg to operate the clutch," Burroughs said.

But his mother, a fiercely independent woman, isn't one to back away from a challenge. Even at 97, she still cooks and drives.

It doesn't take much prompting for her to remember what she liked about the car decades ago. "It was just so different and sporty looking," she said. Its only back seat is a rumble seat.

Helen Burroughs expects to drive her new/old car occasionally but it will be kept in a barn at her home. She drove it for visitors last week, dressed in red and black to match the colors of the car.

The Cabriolet is in mint condition, but David Burroughs plans to improve the clutch, add a tail light and replace the imitation leather seats with the real thing.

"It was the Corvette of the day," said Burroughs, CEO of Bloomington Gold, who'd been searching for years for a copy of the vintage car.

Once it arrived, he told nobody. He wanted to make sure his mother was surprised.

His silence paid off.

"He (Harold Burroughs) would be very pleased," she said. "It's a beautiful car."

1931 Chevrolet Cabriolet

Inside: Six cylinders and three-speed manual transmission

Outside: Two-door convertible with rumble seat; dual side-mounted spare wheels with mirrors

Numbers: Top speed about 70 mph; list price of about $625 in 1931

SOURCES: David and Helen Burroughs; Compiled by Bob Holliday