That's probably a NAPCO 4 X 4 conversion as Chevy hadn't started making their own at that time. Also, it was a 'panel delivery'. The Suburban of the day had side windows. I'd drive the hell out of that thing! Thanks again @j hansen
@'28phonebooth Grandparents? Heck, it was a 19 year old college kid, who is now a grandparent… Ha, only 58 years ago… my how time flies… Hello, When I was a college student in 1965-66, my brother was also in his last couple of years of classes. But, he was in Los Angeles and I was up North in San Jose. So, in order to keep telephone costs low, we figured out a way to make sure one or the other was at home in our apartments. Now, I would find a local telephone booth in San Jose near my apartment and make a person to person call from a phone booth. The person to person phone call was the most expensive rate, but we always got top quality service from the long distance operators. (remember to the end of story) But, the phone booth was next to another one and when the operator asked for money, all I did was to deposit money in the next door booth phone coin slots. I held the phone stretched out to the other booth, it made the correct sounds of each coin, $.25, $.05, $.10 to add up to the person to person charge. It registered for the operator in sound and as she counted the individual coin deposits I was making in the other phone. I did not want to call Los Angeles without knowing my brother was going to be there to answer. So, when the operator called with the question: “…Is there a Junji Nakamura to accept the person to person call from San Jose, California?” Anyone in the apartment could answer the call with the correct information… “No, but James Nakamura is here.” Then the operator said the call is for Junji Nakamura to answer…” So, she tells me that no one by the first name was there. She then hung up and if the coins were deposited in the original phone booth phone slots, I would be out anywhere from $2.00 to $3.50 in coins. I retrieved the coins in the other booth. But, now I could call again several minutes later and a different operator would ask the question… “How may I help you?” Using the same technique, I would call my brother with the two phone booth phones and when I deposited the money in the other phone booth, my current, long distance operator put the call through. Jnaki That saved me thousands of dollars during the time spent in San Jose. The other receptacle was used for letters to my mom. She wanted me to call her, but I just could not use the phone to talk to her, using my coin trick. So, I told her that writing a letter both ways was good for me to get better in the English Composition Class and for her to improve her English writing skills, in letter form. That sealed the deal. I got a letter every three days, if I sent one back the day I received it. There was also a side extra included with the letter writing, a check for $50 extra dollars per month to pay for mailing supplies, stamps and paper. YES! Years later after college, my wife used to tell me some great stories about phone operators in the swing shift hours and extra pay for graveyard shifts when on vacation from schools. She said they were manually operating wires connected to open ports and did not have ways to really know if the money was deposited, other than sounds. So, she said I was a clever college student for discovering ways to save money. But, she said that the running joke in all offices late at night was the little stick shift lever on the desk top surface that allowed the operators to listen in on any conversation, at any time without anyone knowing it was happening. Think about it, late night hours staring at a board in front of you with holes and wires with a World War 2 headset on your head crushing your hairdo and there was nothing to do other than read a book between calls? Ha… The stories they heard…YRMV
The Jalopy Journal
