This Habit of Dad's to Let Kids Drive

I've read two stories of underage dangerous condition driving on this blog and as a parent myself now it kind of boggles the mind. But we really did grow up that way, EXCEPT Dad must have realized I was not made of the same stuff as my siblings because I have no driving/flying experience at all before 16. 

I was reminded though of an incident on the way home from St Catherine's one day. We were all standing in the back of the van as usual, trying to keep our balance as Dad took the turns. We habitually gave John's classmate (sorry - name?) a ride home and he lived on the little street after the turn at Stoney Creek called Kramer Ave. 

It's just a block long and it rejoins Friedensberg Ave again after the block. So Dad stops and the friend gets out. Then Dad would like to merge onto Friedensberg Ave without stopping if possible. It was always the responsibility of the person in the passenger seat (the only other seat besides the driver) to look out on the right and give the all clear sign. Since John was no more than 8th grade, william couldn't have been more than 4th. It may have been 3rd or 2nd. At any rate, William saw a car coming and hemmed and hawed a little bit as Dad is getting ready to emerge from the side street. That was enough of a delay to cause us to crash into the car, causing some denting I think.

Dad yelled at William for not being more perfectly clear and fast with his wingman job, but seriously, who pulls out trusting a 7 to 9 year old? 

I bet there's some stories here, ahem...

These photos were in my "slice" of the Reed Family photo album.  I thought I had better check through them for cars and here these were.  Dad...?  Some comments here?

What about the Green Buick?

I always had the feeling that it had once been a favorite of Dad's, though I have no proof.  This -approximately 1956- vehicle sat in the driveway for years.  It had the "bird's nests" in the fenders (is that what they called them?) and a humpy hood, (maybe it was a 54...).  All I remember is how the roof and hood and trunk would "dent in and out" when we'd land on them with our butts.  They were like spring boards,..  such abuse.  I remember Dad yelling at us for jumping on the cars (there were two, the other was.... uh...) but he got pretty half-hearted about it.  Was it two tone green?  Ka-thoooonk, Ka thoonk, Ka thooonk.

Just a list of my former cars, more details later by Jenny

These are just the ones that I've personally owned...

1969 VW Beetle, Dark Blue....mostly
1970 something Mercury Montego buttery yellow
1970 something Dodge Dart, Sally and Jack's Turquoise with white racing stripes. I believe Sally bought it just because of the color...still her favorite color.


1976 Honda Civic, (The Egg) Abandoned at an intersection at rush hour, in front of a Red Rose Transit bus....Then sold for parts for $50.

1976? Ford Pinto...also succumbed at rush hour, at a huge intersection in Harrisburg, with my new boss behind me. I had recently started my job at Household Finance after an interview claiming that I had very reliable transportation. Mr. Bradley had to give me a jump at the end of my interview because I had left the lights on.

1970 something Rambler Sedan (same weird purple color that our family Rambler had been) that Nancy Prigmore gave me that only drove in reverse. I believe Dad picked it up from Nancy’s house somewhere out past the Reading Airport, Heidelberg?, and drove it backwards all the way home. It never regained forward motion.

1976 Toyota Celica (metallic green), tan interior. God, I loved that car! I think I paid $1,200 for it. I found it in a newspaper, which seems really weird now.  I had been wanting that model ever since I first laid eyes on it. That seems to be my MO.  See car. Lust after car. Car appears. Still have the scar on my finger from installing a car stereo with a Swiss Army knife. Rarely needed any fixing until Jim Schank borrowed it and parked it on a hill with no emergency brake and it rolled backwards, without hindrance until hitting the corner of a brick house. The house was unharmed. My car still ran until the end of its inspection period and was then towed away to a scrap yard, stereo included. My heart broke.




1974 Volvo Sedan dark blue with tan leather interior- given to me by Gini Mauchly having been driven more than once across the country and more than once rescued by Dad.  I received this generous gift while I was a nanny in Wash DC. Luckily I lived where I worked so didn’t have to get many places.
The few times I did drive it, it broke down. I have often said that that car was towed more miles than it was ever driven. One incident was outside of  Baltimore, Ellicot City, not far from Celman’s (?) son’s house-Steve, I think. How did I know that? I visited them once with Dad, not that long after their son had been killed by a car while riding his bike. Back in the days before cell phones, how did I contact him? Where would I have gotten his number, Dad? It’s all a bit hazy now. I’m guessing he gave me the name of a mechanic that could tow the car and fix it while Steve gave me a ride to the Amtrak station so I could get back to DC. There the Volvo would spend a lovely vacation for a few weeks costing a mere $400 in repairs. In today’s dollars that would easily be about $2000. But I was the richest I have ever been to this day, making $300 a week with no expenses. I might have had a student loan, but I’m pretty sure I didn’t pay it.
When I had to return, I brought Hampton Theodore MacBeth, my charge, with me along with diaper bag, car seat and my own purse, which I left on the train as Hampton and I struggled to disembark.  In my purse was my $400 to pay for the car, license, passport-who knows why, registration car-of not just the Volvo, but of several cars I owned at the time what were in various stages of being sold and/or scrapped.
1982 VW Rabbit red with white convertible top-Sold to Tony DiMichael, my roommate in Rehoboth, because he just loved it soooooooo much.
1984 Toyota Landcruiser Wagon-eventually traded for Dad’s 28’ sailboat and $1000 cash which I used to move to France for 7 months.
1986 VW Vanagon
1998 VW Beetle, Diesel
2002 VW Golf Diesel
2005 Honda Element
2018 Kia Niro Hybrid in Pearl White

Box Van

that box van ended up being the vaccuum pact band truck i think

GMC

another pick up...
green 56 GMC 3/4 ton
i think it was bought by dad for one mission...
filling all our garages and sheds with gov surplus... and then parked...
near our "tree house", which was not in a tree.
dad would bit $13.26 for some gov surplus lots figuring people might not bid on some of them.
he was right and now the proud owner of two tons of triple packaged WWII misc radio gear
or odds and ends like hydraulic gunnery pumps for bombers etc.
the catch was you had to pick this windfall up from west virginia ? or  somewhere.
dad and i head down in this old gmc.
manual steering, manual brakes, three on the tree manual shifting.
i think dad splurged on the rear tires and bought 10 ply tires, so stiff they couldn't go flat.
somewhere down south at an airforce quanset hanger we load that truck and the wooden plywood side extensions up with boxes like the beverly hillbillies and more...
its not going to fit so dad starts breaking down boxes dumping the contents onto the pile and tossing the packaging in a dumpster.

the 10 ply tires are squished the truck is so top heavy there is a real roll over danger...
that doesnt  show up until we are crossing a narrow bridge... and the truck goes into an oscillation
there was so much play in the steering wheel that by the time you would correct for the truck leaning
you would over steer and it would lean the other way, then you correct and by the time it was going too far the other way and i dont know how we didnt end up in the water... the zig zagging was also making the load sink and the wood sides are starting to bulge out.
dad decides we have to repack the load to put the weight lower.
we pull behind a diner and for hours pull off triple box packing, foil packing, tissue packing, plastic packing.
we finally get back on the road and at some point dad is exhausted and so i start driving
dad says its ok down here to be 15 and drive, ok...
to keep the truck from going into an uncontrolled swerving you would bump twice on the left once on the right of the "play" in the steering wheel... it was a long drive but all the sodas you could drink!...

mrs C

someone please tell the story about riding to school  in the back of mrs c's car and someone yells "ssssnnnakkke!"   mrs C is just smoking

Jim, this is Mary Ellen and I will tell the story. Certainly it happened. Certainly it was at least once. Certainly we were traumatized. To this day, my soul seizes a little right before I sit down in a car; a voice inside of me saying, "did you check for snakes? did something move? is that mouse piss I smell?"

I remember the scene. Mrs. C picked up William, Liz and I. If Booba was in the car he was in the front seat, and considering the fact that the 3 Reeds were packed into the back with our book bags, this was probably the case. Five people in a car. Cigarette smoke and the radio on. Someone yells, "snake!" and all hell breaks loose. None of us are wearing seatbelts, that's a given. My mind is a blur of childish knees getting yanked up onto the seat, of bookbags getting in the way, and elbows flying as each of us seeks to escape the snake who has found himself the center of all this pandemonium. There is too much excitement. There is screaming and jumping. Liz, and William and I moving like a panicked school of fish from one side of the bench seat to the other while the snake seeks shelter.

And Mrs. C, smoking, continuing to drive along the street to school, where we tumbled out when she finally stops. Heavy breathing and tears from us. "Tell you mother that Booba needs a ride tomorrow," she says. And pulls away, smoking, radio on, snake in the back seat.

Short list of cars

here is a short list of cars and hopping off points:

first car i remember :
1959 chrysler imperial
dad backed over my tonka dumptruck in Yerkes (collegeville 1961)
omaha nebraska in 63        dads 1960? carmen ghia light blue
both cars came back to rd4 reading pa in 63-64?
light green 56 caddy dad got for $200 from someone but mom hated it cuz it looked to her generation like a ghetto cruiser.
we were all driving to little linden and i think mom made a remark about it and dad impulsively
pulled into the rambler dealer in douglasville ...
he comes back out and we all go over to a lavendarish silver rambler wagon... the only new car
we would ever own.
 i think it was under $3,000.
there was a lambretta motor scooter that sat in the middle of our sidewalk for years.

 yellow 65 econoline
 blue 68 econoline van
orange 69 econoline van
 kays gold safari wagon trans mount fixed with vicegrip on trip to Ts farm.
yellow montego / garden hose heating / pull speaker wire shifting / spoon key
vw bugs 6 or so
jennys red pinto college car
vista cruiser wagon
yellow 67 mustang was green from selman
yellow mustang 2 from selman
1949 White truck
1958 dodge dump
 vw rabbit camo paint doors welded shut top cut off
63 fairlane top cut off sold in AZ
62 fairlane
63 limo $900 with 57,000 miles on it...   popped out of park and rolled down hill into willow tree.
 68 camaro
dodge dart convs red, brown? blue?
toyota wagon brown
toyota johns
f250 pick ups
65 impala conv
70 mustang white
70 boss 302 white
67 mustang gta red
65 mustang med blue
green dannek 68 malibu 4 door
black comets 60, 61
 vw bus red/white
green torino
67 fury II white
vega
datsun wagon yellow drove to AZ  water pump failed.  pushed to an exit by a gambler on his way to reno with a black eye. his bumper was then torn off by a passing uhaul...
sally and jacks dart swinger 340 w positraction  blue w white interior

Mistakes Were Made

Yes, indeed, "Crash and Burn", a highly prized 72 Vega Wagon converted into a pickup truck that could barely carry a case of oil (which it would quaff down faster than gasoline) in the back without some part of the suspension poking thru the unibody. JUNK!! and that''s harsh coming from me. Jim and I tested out our airbrush skills on it, but my favorite part is the "Fisher Price" sunroof, that was painted with thick enamel and kid-size brushes. There are only two funny things about it; one was watching Jim grab almost any metal object off the ground and weld it into the so-called "frame" to fill the holes. The other funny thing is that it's one of two cars that I've ever sold for a profit.