205 - Day 169/196 - Thursday...

This is a 1965 Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser. We had a 1965 Buick Sport Wagon. Same car, different badge. Ours was blue (everything my mother had anything to do with was blue, if it didn't start out blue, she painted it blue). I learned a lot in that old station wagon, many things that I choose not to share with you (but will do so happily given the proper quantities of Merlot). My dad died between my junior and senior year in high school. That was the car I had when I got my drivers license. That was the car that Al Parsons and I (really, mostly Al) replaced the muffler with a 'Thrush Muffler" (bad idea unless you were interested in mimicking a jet aircraft) and installed a reverberator on the (AM) radio system. There were no stereo car radios, really there was no FM radio back then either. This was the car I was driving home from school one day when I was 'rear-ended' by Miss Riverview Evelyn Wisenor, who got out of the car and stated that she was 'so glad it is you'. That was the reason I pulled the senior homecoming float with a loaner car while that HUGE blue land yacht was in the shop. The loaner car was a 1965 Oldsmobile Holiday, huge as well, but prone to overheating on the parade route. The blue Sport Wagon was the car we took on a trip to California; me, my mom and dad  and my Aunt Ruby. My dad had an 'aftermarket' air conditioner installed in the car. It was kind of like a miniature swamp cooler. It straddled the hump in the front seat, we put ice cubes in a reservoir that also was filled (with what looked like) hay, and turned on the fan. It didn't work, but it did cause a unacceptable drain on the cooling system of the car which we experienced first-hand just this side of Needles, California. This was also the trip that, when we visited Disneyland, my Aunt Ruby peed her pants every time we went down a hill on the Matterhorn ride.

If you had time, I could tell you lots more about that car. Another interesting thing about the Oldsmobile shown above, the driver looked scarily like he could have been the original owner.

Deeds, Actions, Changes, SECRETS, Kindnesses, Whirled Peas, FUN!