My (One Week) Project Car

In 1969, after blowing reverse gear in the transmission and junking the first car I bought, I was in the same predicament as before. I had a motorcycle for transportation, but when needing a car due to weather, I had to borrow one of my parents' cars. And, I knew winter in Wisconsin was coming pretty quickly. I had a part time job after school at a Clark gas station, so riding the school bus was not going to enable me to get to work on time.

 

Within a month or two a guy at work told me he knew somebody with a car (1953 Dodge) that was free to take away. Well, the words car and free rang in my ears as I perked right up. I asked him if it ran and he said yes, all it needed was the brakes fixed. So we went over to his house to take a look. It was a kind of ugly brown and kind of beat up but the body was in OK shape. I didn’t care what it looked like and I said if it runs, I’ll take it. He said “OK it’s yours for a dollar to make it a legal sale” and asked how I was going to get it home. I replied that I’ll drive it and get it there and he signed off on the title while I gave him a dollar. I also didn’t tell him I was only 16 and underage to legally buy a car.

After getting a ride back to his house, I got the keys and jumped in. It had a straight 6 motor and 3 on the tree manual transmission. It started up and I drove it slowly home and when having to stop would leave it in gear and turn the engine off. The hand parking brake didn’t work or I would have tried using that. It’s funny how hearing the word “free” kind of caused me to neglect looking very carefully at the car. I noticed as I was poking along Silver Spring Dr. at a few miles per hour a blue haze behind me from burning oil coming through the tail pipe. Getting back home I parked it in the driveway and started to look the car over a bit more, finding two tires nearly bald. Opening the hood there was smoke and fumes caused from oil getting on the exhaust manifold. Looking underneath there were some wet spots on the motor from oil leaks already dripping on the asphalt. Not exactly a chick magnet. I had to keep telling myself “it was free”.

Well, then dad gets home from work. “What’s that car sitting out there?", he asked. I told him and said I got it for free, all it needs is the brakes fixed. He asked “How did you get it here with no brakes?” I told him how. My dad could be a man of few words, especially with me. I remember these, “Get that thing out of the driveway!". He was not happy and I went out and parked it on the street in front of the house.

So, there it sat for about a week. I imagine dad went out and looked the car over after I went to work, but he didn’t say anything or tell me. I was still young and knew nothing about fixing cars. Although I was reading every Hot Rod and Car & Driver magazine I could get my hands on, I had no idea of brake systems and how they work. As I started to realize that I may have made a foolish decision, I kept a low profile around the house, made myself scarce and stayed quiet.

The following Saturday, my dad came in and asked “What are you going to do with that car?” I told him I wasn’t quite sure and he said “Don’t you think that the reason the car was free was because it isn’t worth fixing?” I said “Yes, I suppose so.” He then said “Then get the car title and start heading down to the junkyard and I’ll come pick you up". And, that was the second trip for me to Larry’s junkyard in Butler, with many more to come! I wasn't having very good luck buying cars.

A couple days later mom came up to me and said she was going to stop driving for the time being. She was pregnant with her last child, my sister Karin, and was content to just stay home and didn’t have a need to go anywhere. Altough, knowing mom, I knew she was sacrificing her freedom for my benefit. So, I took over the 1957 Chrysler New Yorker after that and my car shopping was over for a while. And I was a happy guy! That car had a 392 hemi motor and could easily bury the 120 mph speedometer needle!

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