A little auto exotica is rolling around the Key

Steve Whitford

A brightly-colored vehicle is roaming about the town. Owner Diana Marcoe said her “Tweety” is special and she plans on keeping it around. Photo by KP News

There’s a strange new car on the peninsula. Its proud owner is Diana Marcoe, of Key Center.

She spotted this mechanical marvel last summer, and it was love at first sight.

She knew that she just had to own it. The car is a true “Frankenstein” creation, she said. It’s a one-of-a-kind creation, made from several bygone models.

Its creator, who wishes to remain anonymous, used an 1981 Chevy Chevette for the chassis and running gear. The front of the car is from an Austin Healy and the rear is from a ’57 Cadillac.

According to Marcoe, the unusual exhaust is off a Harley Davidson motorcycle and the roof and all the connecting parts were custom fabricated by hand. The trunk sports a collector’s license plate and the name “Rolls Kanardly, which stands for rolls down hills, then kan hardly go up them,” she said.

Marco has named her car “Tweety” after the yellow cartoon parakeet whose face adorns her car’s seats, dashboard and antenna. She and her granddaughter, Emma Kris Michael Smith, both love the car and she vows never to part with it.

Diana Marcoe and Emma Kris Michael Smith spent a recent moment in Tweety, the car. Photo courtesy David Abbe