History might have my generation of "baby boomers" being one of the last to cling so tight with memories of their first car. Who knows?
But this story here of an aging gent being reunited with his first car might just 'take the cake' as far as stories go..
City cop had a Corvair in the late 60's. Let's just say he didn't take it on any high speed chases when the high school kids had Mustangs, Camaros, etc. We joked that he had to pour in peanuts to feed the squirrels that ran on a treadmill powering it.
Holy Cow, post: 378884, member: 50 wrote: City cop had a Corvair in the late 60's. Let's just say he didn't take it on any high speed chases when the high school kids had Mustangs, Camaros, etc. We joked that he had to pour in peanuts to feed the squirrels that ran on a treadmill powering it.
I had a 4-door Corvair in HS. It was really a blast, but had ground clearance problems. One of the finer points of a rear-engine car was the huge "trunk" space in the front. It was tub-shaped and even had a removable drain plug in the bottom. 30 pounds of ice and a 3 pound box of rock salt made the finest rolling beer cooler in the county. It finally fell victim to my constant abuse....
paden cash, post: 378880, member: 20 wrote: History might have my generation of "baby boomers" being one of the last to cling so tight with memories of their first car.
Paden,
Since you have demonstrated your love for cars on numerous occasions there is a book you should take a look at. ItÛªs called ÛÏThe Best Damn Garage in TownÛ by Smokey Yunick. I grew up in Daytona Beach where SmokeyÛªs ÛÏGarage was. A friend of mine from Parochial Prison whose Father owned a pottery production plant and used International Harvester box trucks for deliveries bought his trucks from Smokey who was also an IH truck dealer. Smokey knew my friend by name but not me. The first time I met him I was 10 years old in 1960. He said hello to my friends Dad and my friend then looked at me and said (and I quote) ÛÏWhoÛªs this $h*t head? Cripes, I thought I had done something wrong but soon realized that was just the way he talked to everybody including ÛÏBig Bill FranceÛ who was busy with the new Daytona Speedway. (first race 1959) At the time Smokey was in the process of building a race car for Fireball Roberts. (I also met Fireball at SmokeyÛªs).
The book, an autobiography taken verbally and transcribed, is about 600-800 pages but rather ÛÏcolorfulÛ throughout. Yunick was beyond his years with respect to the automotive industry and quite a few of his racing car inventions are now currently used in todayÛªs autos. ItÛªs a fun read that I think you and any other car aficionado would really enjoy it.
.:cool:
In another lifetime (summer of 1985), I did a summer internship in southwestern NH. In my poking around one day, I stumbled across a collection of various Mac Trucks. They were in various stages of "apart", which allowed visitors to see the gears (some planetary) among other things. Yes, the yard was open to visitors.
I have no idea if the yard is still there, if only I could remember the town I was in.
