By Edward Master
I've been fairly fortunate with automobile ownership in my lifetime. I only blew up one engine; engines function best with motor oil. I've had some major motor work done, but only one other overhaul.
I began my driving career with a 1956 Volkswagon. The VW had a 32-horsepower engine; no gas gauge; no heater; and intermittent windshield wipers. My gas gauge was actually a stick under the front hood. The blown VW engine introduced me to the Clarion County bug hospital over by Curlsville. I believe the owner/chief mechanic was a former mechanic at a VW dealership around New Bethlehem. His main area of operation was the top floor of an old barn. There were parts of old VWs and VW shells everywhere. The owner's name may have been Guy Magness.
My dad either was given or bought a VW auto manual (for 'troubleshooting'). One problem though was that the nuts and bolts were all metric since it was a European auto. He ended up buying a set of metric wrenches. He needed the metrics because one Sunday morning he and neighbor Jack Klingler decided to fix the broken clutch cable on the VW. I stayed away from this do-it-yourself project. I may have brought the workers the occasional beverage to quench their thirst.
The funniest part of the do-it-yourself fix-it job was when they read the manual saying "at this point you may encounter difficulty." And difficulty did indeed happen as they had a "more than" difficult time threading the cable through a hole through which the cable passed. Quite a few choice 4-letter curse words were uttered during this time. This resulted in a topic of discussion for years to come. Oddly enough, my older brother Jack became a VW mechanic in Erie and two separate California (state, Livermore and Redwood City) garages. My father relayed the tale and my brother just laughed as he realized what they had experienced.
My VW also had the luxury(?) of having an old Chevrolet emblem on the trunk hood over the motor. One Saturday evening with a full load of buddies in the VW we took off for Clarion. Upon reaching our destination I parked in the lot between Liberty St. and Main St. (322). I got a parking ticket (probably $2.00), but the 'make' of the car on the ticket was 'Chevrolet.' Go figure. I suppose I could have fought it, but for $2.00 it was worth the laugh and the funny story re-told for years.
Next, I drove a 1963 burgundy (Palomar red) Corvair in high school school and in college. I guess I was unsafe at any speed. I removed the black carpet as it was worn and I painted the floor board black (with spray Rustoleum). I had a leak and so I took out some plugs on the floor to let the water escape.
I ended college with a 1969 black Ford Falcon, with a three-speed standard shift on the column. The Falcon made a trip to Lock Haven U for Clarion wrestling and at least one trip to Jamestown, NY, for a spring fraternity formal. I traded the Falcon in for a bronze-colored Gremlin in Allentown when I was teaching in Kutztown, PA. After getting married, I then went very compact with a Chevrolet Chevette. Next was an upgrade in size to a Ford Ranger pickup. My wife was driving a Honda Civic.
I drove a Chevy S-10 pickup from Glassboro to Indiana, and onto Grove City. Burt Snyder sold the S-10 at an auto auction. We got a used Chevy Cruize with low milage in Grove City and later a Ford Fiesta. The Fiesta was it for me and cars as this one was sold to a family friend.
I basically learned to drive in the field next to my home in Turkey City in my Grandpa Master's 1952 Plymouth. It was a tank. I remember going with grandpa to get tailights installed on the Plymouth when I was fairly young at Homer Henry's garage near Knox. I think he used hand signals out his driver side window to indicate a turn before the tailights became mandatory under PA driving code.
I failed my first drivers exam on Liberty Street in Clarion; it was the street behind the court house. I passed on my second try; this one was at the state police barracks course in Butler. I do recall we stopped at the Vin Joe before we went home so dad could get a drink though I wonder why.
There is a bit of a sidebar with the two trucks. I had always wanted a small pickup truck. I got sliding rear windows and a cap installed on each. These additions made it a simple task then to transport our three cats to Turkey City for Christmas or other holidays. We put a litter box and water in the back and off we went. We would open the sliding rear window and one of if not all of the cats would climb through, with them often around our feet. They were really no trouble at all.
The trucks actually aided the moving process twice, once to Indiana, then once to Grove City. My only regret in my driving career is that I never switched to automatic transmissions sooner. For some reason I was enthralled with popping the clutch and rolling to start the engine.
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