Emily Paine Carter

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If beauty is in the eye of the beholder, how do you behold the Hokiemobile?

Your response to Dan Phlegar's rolling relic probably depends on your reaction to orange-and-maroon team colors.

The Barbara and Van Gresham family responds very well indeed. Their VT porch flag, their faithful treks for game day, their sporting of garments with Virginia Tech logos: All evidence points to a houseful of Hokies.

So on a recent Saturday when high school football referee Dan had to ref a postponed game instead of driving his glorious car to Blacksburg, he docked it at the Greshams'.

"He was so disappointed that the Vans [Sr. and Jr.] had already left for the Tech game. He wanted them to drive the car there," Barbara explained.

But things worked out nicely for a later, very appropriate event: "Big Van" steered the mighty mobile to the Sept. 29 pre-game, pig-pickin' Team Tate fundraiser at Tech's German Club. "Oh, [the car] was a big hit -- and we raised another $5,000 for Duke's Angels Among Us fund," Barbara beamed.

Each spring and fall the Salem family raises money -- $12,000 in 2006 -- for Duke University Hospital, where grandson Tate Gresham landed a couple of years ago with a brain tumor. Tate, now 3¹₂, has recovered beautifully, Barbara gratefully reported.

She herself wouldn't drive "that tank": brightly painted, but still a tank.

Indeed, when Dan brought happy front-seat-riding dog Sage and the 1979 Lincoln Town Car to our house for the vehicle's glamour photo-session, he laughed that this "longest car ever made" needed a city block in which to turn.

He had bought the then-plain car last year, and hired Cave Spring Auto Body to paint the brilliant colors. "I had said if I ever owned a car like that, I'd have fun with it!" ("He's a crazy, fun guy," Barbara had observed.)

And fun he is having. Not only will the Roanoke County resident drive it to games, he has also parked it at a rabid University of Virginia fan's house. "Everyone gives 'thumbs up' as I pass by," he said. Wife Kathy added that folks are excited to find out who owns "this old car with a new life."

"And at an AGC [Association of General Contractors] dinner, Sam Lionberger -- a huge Tech fan -- said I could park it in front of his office any time," Dan laughed.

(Both Dan and son Bobby have Tech civil engineering degrees: Dan, grad school; Bobby, undergrad.)

Maybe daughter Kristy is relieved that her folks are unlikely to drive the parade-float-of-a-car to visit her Wyoming home. At 12 to 13 mpg, Dan's whimsical ride puts smiles on local faces. (In defense, Dan added that some sport utility vehicles are also gas-thirsty.)

And were the Hokie antenna-windsock and the "CRAZYVT" license plate the finishing touches? Not quite. Soon Dan will further gild this showy lily with -- what else? -- a football helmet on the hood.

That should guarantee many a Hokie grin at the next pig-pickin' or pigskin-kickin'.