[Al Skierkiewicz]

The car my family owned when I got my license was a '57 Chevy, 4 door with a straight six, 235 cu. in. I was driving home from a date, (actually had just dropped Dottie off and was taking some other people home) when an older lady driving her 96 year old father home from work t-boned the car when she ran a stop sign. My father and I had spent months rebuilding the car prior to that. Welded in new dog legs behind the back doors and "t" sections between the doors. Had completly repainted in metallic green and cream paint with wet sanding between coats. I swear that the newly welded sections kept the offending vehicle from getting under the chassis and rolling the car. Instead it pushed me about 75 ft. up on someone's lawn. My father made me drive it home and that probably kept me driving after that. I made the ultimate mistake in demanding to take it to the junk yard when the insurance company said it was totaled. I sat and watched as a fork truck operator came along and knocked the wheels off with the tip of the forks and then broke through the side windows to lift the car up onto a pile of other cars. I am sure it was recycled into something bigger. I still have the key.
My first owned vehicle was a '64 Plymoth Fury that I bought from my uncle for $50. I sold it for $150 two years later after replacing the clutch. My first new vehicle was a Mazda RX4 wagon. If you have never driven a Wankel it is an interesting experience. No starting torque but it could really go after you got out of first gear. It hugged the road like a race car but had pretty bad gas mileage for the time.