ASSUMPTION - All good things come to those who wait.

And sometimes, if you wait long enough, you get a 1987 Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS in pearl white with three-tone burgundy pinstriping.

Which brings us to the singular case of Katie Reed of Assumption. She just turned sweet 16 on June 8, passed her driving test June 9 and was rewarded with said Monte Carlo. It was built six years before she was born and has been waiting for her in the family garage since she was 6 months old.

"My parents have been telling me forever that it's going to be my car, but I never really believed it until, like, last year," said Katie, flashing a shy smile that launched a thousand muscle cars. "I just figured they would sell it or something, or it wouldn't work."

Never, however, underestimate the power of parental love for an only child or a dad's passion to do something special for the apple of his eye. Given the fact that the mechanical expert dad is also a major NASCAR fan and that Monte Carlos once prowled the race circuits back in the day, it's not too surprising the old man might want to set one aside for his daughter.

Only Reed did the setting aside back in 1993, when daughter was just a baby. He bought three Monte Carlos before finding the one he wanted to keep for posterity: "I bought two locally, a white one and a maroon one, and then I found the pearl white through a friend of mine in Terre Haute, Ind.," he said. "The other ones didn't have enough options on them, and this one had about everything."

We're talking "High Output" 5-liter, 180-horsepower V-8 engine, T-tops, lots of power options and, gasp, a radio-cassette player with built-in equalizer. Back in 1987, with glasnost breaking out back in the former Soviet Union and presidents Reagan and Gorbachev burying the Cold War and Madonna topping the charts with "Open Your Heart," automotive joy didn't get any better than this.

But why buy it so early and have to put it on ice why you wait patiently for your little girl to learn to crawl, walk, feed herself, master her bicycle and reach the cusp of her junior year in high school? Dad looks a little sheepish when asked, and talks about buying a collector's item that might actually go up in value over time, sort of.

"And, well, I just kind of thought it would be neat to keep it for her to drive, and it would kind of look pretty cool, you know?" adds the 53-year-old, who has a keen sense of historical perspective. He points out that the car's license plate "Katie 52" was even meant to symbolize dad's age by the time his daughter first hit the road taking driving lessons.

Mom Selena Reed said their little girl made her public debut in the car when she was all of 2 years old and won the Assumption Best Baby Sweepstakes. Proud dad popped the T-top out and drove her in the parade of winning babies, doing the same thing again when she was 13 and had won the town's Junior Miss pageant.

"Apart from that, we've pretty much had it in hibernation all these years, waiting for her," said Selena Reed, 51. "It's a powerful car but, well, she's a very sensible driver. My friends all think she is one lucky girl."

Katie's girlfriends weren't so convinced at first, noting the car doesn't resemble anything on the road these days and thinking T-top was some kind of clothing accessory. They've since warmed to the vintage muscle look, however, and gear head guys are a pushover at first glance.

"At the McDonald's where I work, a guy came in, saw my nametag and said, 'Is that your car?' " Katie said. "I said, 'Yeah,' and he said, 'I'll trade ya.' "

But it was no deal as the Reeds' newest driver, a little hesitant herself at first, has quickly accelerated toward appreciation of her Detroit chariot's fast-acting charm. Now all she has to do is embrace some of that cool late '80s culture, such as big-shouldered fashions and hot music from the likes of Starship, Cutting Crew, George Michael and Kim Wilde and ¦ oh, well, maybe not.

"That whole 1980s thing?" asks Katie. "It's like a foreign language."

treid@herald-review.com|421-7977