SCARS ARE SOUVENIRS The Corvette roadster, skewed sideways at about 80, dust and gravel flying, Id swear, musta looked like a movie stunt except, this wasnt a stunt it was a test drive my test drive. Worst part, I wasnt driving Dale is and hes man-handling the 61 roadster like hes Briggs Cunningham the Vette flew out of the curve, seemingly straightened itself out, hurtled toward the top of the hill and once there, crested the hill in the air and headed down for the tight corner at the bottom. See how easy it handles its easy to pilot this thing. Dale yelled, the rush of humid air catapulted over the windshield. I know you can handle this car. Maybe, I shouted back, holding onto the bottom of the dash but, I had no idea how Dad would handle it Daled paid a little over $4,600.00 for the car brand new! Hed ordered it September 1960, when they came out the new Vette was quite a change from the 1960 body a new duck tail was added and changed the look of the Corvette he had to have one! He got the big engine the only V8 engine available was the 283, but with fuel injection and 9.25:1 ratio pulling 275 horses out of the 283 was unreal for the time the four-speed cost extra, so did Posi-traction and the heavy duty suspension his only concession to looks, other than the blak interior was wide whites his trade-in (a clean 54 Chevy hardtop) didnt get him much, but that was OK once Dale took delivery, he had the only Corvette in town and the cops got to know it all too well. The third to second gear downshift was smooth and the silver roadster literally wailed as if in pain as it slowed. That corners got a wicked backside, I yelled, on the other side of the trees, its tighter than it looks. Dale made it look easy hauling that blak wheel to the right, the Vette drifted around the posted 25 mph corner effortlessly at about 50 course, hed been driving this open car for better than a year now. We were putting up a cloud of dust had to look like a low-flying crop dusting plane from atop the ridge south of the road. The exhausts roared, the engine wailed and Dale was back up into third and quikly into fourth the shifter snicked into place easily and I wasnt too sure this Corvette would ever find a road it couldnt handle solid as the car was. The speedo was approaching the magical 100 mark cuz the road became very straight after that last curve and I was getting a little worried. One hundred per on gravel isnt exactly the most solid surface if we had to stop Dale didnt seem too worried and a huge smile smeared his face and the wind whipped his hair He wanted to trade me for my 57. Sure, why not? I like your 57, youll get a kick out of owning this Vette. Not only did he want to trade, but it was to be a straight across deal .no money involved didnt want any up-front money Id simply take over his payments and hed take my car what could be better? I had a good job was making good money something like $37.40 take-home a week had money to blow. I could make the payments but, I didnt know if Dad would agree with my line of thinking. That was the crux of the deal but did I know that at the time? Id get the hot car and the cops on my **** soon enuff Dale would get the six cylinder 57 and the cops OFF his hed gotten quite a few tickets in the last year and was on his last legs with the license insurance on the Vette was eating him alive he wanted out. All I could see was a silver magnet ya know the kind where all the girls want to ride with ME!!! Beyond that was the fact the Corvette was damned quik, had a nice mellow exhaust rumble and the epitome of a real hot rod -- a four-speed! Every gal in Omaha, Lincoln and Fremont would know me by my Corvette roadster Id have an endless supply of female companionship! Problem at this minute -- did Dale know this road as well as I did? That is, I wondered if he knew where he was cuz we were flying low the bridge was coming for us faster than I really wanted. Might want to slow it a bit, I shouted over the dull roar of the wind. Why? Arent any cops out here, came the response. Perfect rationale from the drivers seat and in control of a monster the in-control part I wasnt too sure about if we got to the bridge as fast as we were moving. Yeah, well, if were gonna do a deal, I need this Corvette scratch-free, I nodded at his speedo. And I dont need to be scarred up from an accident gals dont exactly find me handsome as it is . Scars souvenirs you never lose. Somewhere, some time ago I heard that line, it stuck with me. How true it is. Scars could be mental something very hurtful that never really heals or physical, tracks from an injury to the flesh both stay with you for the rest of your life and the memories attached to those scars forever jump to mind whenever the physical scar is noticed. The small one on my right shoulder is such and now and then, it hurts when I look at it. I know, I know, its only a mental reaction, it doesnt hurt its just that I recall that test drive so vividly. Ahead, just before the river, the road took a quik drop the road had been washed out in the last flood and instead of building it back up to meet the bridge they just smoothed the edges for the time being, sort of a stop-gap measure, put up a slow sign, some barricades and hoped to fix it later the drop was sudden and the small hill up to the bridge was just as quik down, up, slammed onto concrete if you didnt know it was coming, youd completely miss seeing it until it was too late and the next thing you knew you were flying the small hill up to the bridge was so sharp it could launch the car completely off the ground at anything approaching 50 miles per, let alone twice that speed you can bet we were going to get launched! Slow this thing down, I ordered. The road at the bridge hasnt been patched up yet. If you keep up this speed, we wont need a bridge to get across the river, well need a parachute to let us down gently! Dale pulled the shifter out of fourth, slipped it into third and tapped the brakes .the speedo sloughed off some of that high speed. I do have a chute belted to the bumper you didnt notice, huh? You dont think I didnt turn and look at the deck of the Vette? Not that I could even see it attached anyway he got me good, he was looking my way, laffing and not watching the road. Before either of us could react, the Corvette sailed under ragged tree branches, they whipped over the top of the windshield and down inside the ****pit didnt even have time to raise my arms to cover my face. I felt the sharp sting of pain on my face and in my right shoulder as the leaves and branches beat me up, I yelled. No idea what caused the branches to hang over the road maybe it was a lightning strike a few nites previous, maybe it was wind that broke the branch. The whole thing hung just about four feet above the gravel surface enuff to let the cars body p*** under it but not the windshield and trim. Dale got smacked too, but the branch wasnt near as full on his side so he didnt get hit as much he slammed on the brakes when he heard me yell. Big mistake. The Vette still had too much momentum, skidded sideways and we rumbled down the small hill just before the bridge moving way too fast. Dale tried to correct it, doing a virtuoso symphony-conducting job of hand over hand on the wheel the Vette did a 360, went past that and into a 180, slid up the hill backward onto the concrete bridge tires screeching in agony cuz they wanted to go the other way. He got the roadster stopped just inches before it would have made contact with the steel railings. Dale grabbed his sungl***es off the dash, they were on his face when we whipped under the branches, kept his eyes from being scratched and was lucky they didnt go flying out of the car. He was literally un****hed, but I was in pain Id been smacked hard hit in the face, right shoulder scratched up tore my shirt and I was bleeding he hurriedly started the Vette, backed off the far side of the bridge, turned the car around and headed for town half way there I got the bleeding stopped and decided I didnt really need the Corvette when he dropped me off at home, he inspected the silver paint said a little buffing would probably remove the scratches, but I p***ed on Dales offer Id convinced myself Dad wouldnt let me trade anyway. To this day, I dont know if he ever got rid of the car, kept it or had his license pulled and Ive never had another occasion to own a Corvette. Copyright 06-2004 RAJetter/Aden Rush OK Kiddies...get ready for a NEW and IMPROVED version of the Friday Nite Read...coming your way...soon!!! Can't say anything more about it just yet...suffice to say it'll be rip-roaring, high speed lunacy from word to word...but first, a few words from your sponsor: Wanna read some car stories set in the 1960s? Wanna know how it really was back then? Wanna know what 61 409s, 62 406 Fords ran like off the showroom floor? Wanna read about illegal street races, fist-fights, sock hops, real cruising and Premium gasoline? Wanna know how most of us spent our weekends back then? If you do this book will, at least, help most of you relive YOUR youth and I know you had one! Bangin Gears & Bustin Heads is a commentary on the late fifties to mid 1960s a series of 26 episodes, with each episode explained, between each story. Vintage B & W photos are included-- a total of 208 pages. A personal, autographed copy is available at www.RAJetter.com or send check/ M.O. for $20.95 to: P.O. Box 440042, Aurora, CO80044.
great story , keep up the good work .didnt git time to talk to you at the hamb drags 05 , have you heard any thing out of weakender , he is a distant cousin of mine .
Hate to say it, Weeds, but looks like you got the spelling of his name correct: "Weak" -ender...last time I got a note from him, he was battling his cancer, which had gotten worse and he wasn't able to go anywhere...haven't heard from him since...keep thinking that the worse has happened. Hope not... R-
I just found it to read. I'm not on the computer on the weekends, have a car to build. I thought that is what you would be doing, Roger. Something about a Caddy? I know its got to be too cold to be doing anything else. Maybe its too cold to make it to the shop? Another good read though. I should have bought the book from you at the drags, guess I'll wait until after the holidays and order it.
Me. too! Didn't get on the computer much this weekend, except to post a question here yesterday that got answered almost immediately. Allowed me to fix the problem and move on to the next task. Great read, Roger! Never knew any kids rich enough to own a 'vette when I grew up on the other side of Iowa. Keep 'em comin'!
Roger, working on the cars on the weekend turns this into a Monday at lunch read. What a fun read....is that why you cringe when you walk under a low branch. ha Roach
The Jalopy Journal
