Back in the early sixties, my father bought a new used car. It was a 1950 Oldsmobile – faded light blue and in reasonably good working order. He paid a lot in those days – 50 bucks. We had a single car garage, with a single car driveway – which was probably pretty fancy then. Dad had to park his work car on the street.
I have driven by the old house on occasion, but the last time was probably ten years ago. Instead of parking on the street those occupants parked on what used to be the front lawn. The old white split rail fence was long gone, and there were only remnants of the three Douglas fir trees in the corner of the yard.
We had an old blue Renault to compliment the new old Oldsmobile. The Renault had two features I remember – beyond the similarity to a modified VW bug – red interior and an unshielded fan attached to the dashboard for air conditioning. Dad – did you put that in? I would stick my fingers in the blades while it was on – but the soft rubber fan blades prevented a catastrophe. No one in their right mind would have put something like that in their car today – but in those days everyone – even small children had common sense – only soft rubber blades should be used on fans without a guard – or any other safety feature for that matter.
The Renault was the first car I drove – riding in my father’s lap down the long straight road. Today they call it Union Ave. Our address was 13225 SE 238th PL – now I don’t know what it is, but 238th is now SE 3rd PL. I would sit on Dad’s lap and steer the car toward home, listening to him complain gas prices had jumped from 22.9 cents a gallon to 24.9! If you do the math – that is significant.
The Oldsmobile probably got 12 miles to the gallon, and Dad worked in downtown Renton – a good 5 miles away – may be more “as the crow flies.” At some point Mom convinced Dad she needed a station wagon. We bought the red ’64 Dodge Dart mentioned in Parallel Parking. We had three cars and only two legal drivers. One had to go – the “gas hog.”
I don’t know what Dad advertised the car for - $25? Hell – he paid 50 dollars for it and put four new tires on it – but no takers. Everyone could tell where gas prices were going, and having a big blue Oldsmobile didn’t make sense (although I wish I had it now). This might have even been an early sign of the “Green Revolution.”
Finally Dad buckled to a young girl buying her first car - $15 – New Tires.
- Craig
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I remember when Dad sold the car. The was pregnant and she and her husband were debating whether they could afford the car. Dad sold it to them knowing they needed it and that money was tight for them. Just another example of his generosity. Greg
Cars. Duane, you will remember some of the cars that were fmous or infamous in Powell. Don Bender's 32 Ford pickup that was so light in the rear that it could spin donies on even the lightest snow, and so light that one time it lost rear wheel but nobody noticed it until it rolled past the driver. Clel Wynn's classy blue Chevy Coupe, with a split manifold, Smitty mufflers, and rear fender skirts. And my convertibles, the first of which was a 40-something that I got from Coach Noddings. I traded a salvaged Model B Allis Chalmers to him for that. Then sold it and bought a 37 Buick and restored it.
When Duane and I were sent to George AFB near "Likkerville" CA Manfried and Vesta drove it out from Powell for us so we no longer had to hitchhike to LA.
I think I mentioned that the first ever new car in the Elder family was the Packard. Before that it was old trade-ins or GMC shop trucks. We played "ditchem" in whatever we had, and never killed anybody. And raced to Cody and Lovell. I could usually beat everyone except Marge Clure. She had her dad's Hudson, very fast, but mostly she was probably the best fast driver in Park County. Noel always had a new Buick but he was a cautious driver. On the other hand, I had a reserved chair at Judge Turner's traffic court, thanks to Tony Nelson, who was the entire Powell police force.
Duane, do you remember who rolled a car on the "Tony Bumps" north of town? And do you remember using "my" GMC to haul the food (and some hidden beer) on our Senior Sneak up to Fishing Bridge. And getting chased out of the Park when the boat rental guy found us all out using his boats? Heck, he wasn't there to rent when we needed him.
While I was restoring the Buick, I bought an almost new Studebaker convertible from a guy who was moving back to Texas. In November. Even a cherry Studebaker was not easy to sell in Powell when the snow was starting to fly,so I got it cheap, drove it while I was working on the Buick, then sold the Stubaker at a nice profit when Spring sprung, profit enough to pay for the beautiful red paint job and a new top made by Ted Dunlavy's dad down in Laramie. Stupidly sold that Buick for $1,000 and bought a Packard convertible. Last 37 Buick I saw in Hemmings was priced at $38,000.
Reminds me of our great investment in that surplus Indian motocycle. Roy Barnes was the motocycle rider in Powell, and got us interested. I think we had a few hundred in the Indian, and sold it for maybe $400. It was a rare shaft drive model, only a few thousand built, mostly for the Army. Again on Hemmings I saw one for $30,000. And what would your Chevy Coupe be worth now?
Roy Barnes. Duane worked for him at the Husky station. Late one winter afternoon I was gassing up a truck there and Duane asked why I was buying expensive gas (17 cents, probably) when there was all that free gas lying in puddles around the lot. I was sure that the puddles were just snow melt, but Duane insisted they were gasoline. I asked him for a match. He went inside and got a book of matches. I lit one and tossed it into a puddle. Instantly little blue flames were flickering all over the place. Seems the guy driving the Husky tanker from Cody had walked up the alley to the KBar, had seconds or thirds, and came back to find an underground tank overflowing.
Duane, and Roy, asked why I lit the match. I said I thought Duane was pulling my leg, and would not give me matches if he knew it was gas. He said he gave me the matches because he didn't think I would light one. Roy just thought neither of us thought. Period.
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