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Post by Dan Dostie 88-92 on Mar 25, 2007 12:19:10 GMT -5
Every Smithie must have a favorite car or car story. The road trip thread inspired me to start another thread just for cars. I can recall some great times that weren't really a road trip. Of course, there were some bumps in the road too (or dents in Mark Hager's and Jim Butterfield's cars) . . . Here is a photo of Jerry Visser modeling my favorite car, a circa 1979 model Monte Carlo. Remember that low rumbling sound?! (Anyone sleeping in the dorm that summer must) The doors weighed a ton, so much that sometimes I just kept the windows down and hopped in Dukes of Hazard style. And that sweet view overlooking the hood riding down the highway while the shocks gently rocked the boat up and down. All for $400 from a mechanic who had left it to his mom to deal with while he was out of town. Imagine the trouble I had trying to park that thing in a small New England town. It took my parents forever to sell it in Maine. Oh, I wish it was still parked in their barn now! Anyone else have a favorite car or other car story they would like to share? Dan
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Post by regehr on Mar 25, 2007 22:02:45 GMT -5
I have a number of car-based memories from SSH...
Driving around in Aggieville in Mark's Camaro, Mark holding forth about the pros and cons of the Aerosmith Greatest Hits album I had just bought.
Following Jerry Visser's car, and vice versa, on a road trip to Texas ca. 1991.
Jeff Sisco saying he really wanted a Probe. Doz saying "Are you sure you want a probe Jeff? Are you sure about that??"
Jim Butt dinging his IROC Z on the telephone pole in the parking lot.
My POS green 73 Impala that didn't fit into the parking lot.
Dan's POS Monte Carlo booming down 17th St.
Dave Kiel's story about what it implies about a relationship when your girlfriend pulls the emergency brake while you're driving down the freeway.
At least two that I won't tell on a publicly visible thread.
John
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Post by Jeremy C_88-93 on Mar 26, 2007 13:37:41 GMT -5
John, that probe quote should be on the Quotables thread. That is awesome. We need more quotables from anyone who has them. I have a couple memories. I did a lot of car borrowing my freshman and sophomore years because I was sans auto. I recall one date with a girl from Smurthwaite, I borrowed Mark's Camaro. Seems like it might have been a double-date with Mark and Taressa even. Hmm, is that right? Anyway, he let me drive so he could 'chill' in the back. I just couldn't get a hang of the clutch and killed the engine several times. We went to that ice cream place on the block south of Aggieville (what was the name of it? Later became a bar I think). Anyway, on the way back, my date asked if she could drive and she performed her shifting flawlessly, much to my chagrin. I never went out with her again. Have to say, when I borrowed Jim B.'s RX7, I worked the gears with great precision. THAT car felt very nice in my hands. Sorry Mark. Then when I finally did have a car as a junior, my girlfriend at the time totaled it when she borrowed it. I remember very well the first day Danimal brought home that yellow beast. We all piled all over it and he drove it down the block with 3 guys on the hood and 2 on the trunk. I was on the trunk and didn't manage to hold on as he whipped around the corner. I have a humorous memory of Craig Watson and a POS Saab he bought with salvaged body parts on it, so it didn't match. His plan was to paint it himself and he did so one weekend in the back lot. I guess he'd never spray painted a darn thing in this life because it looked BAAAD, with streaks all over the place and a rough texture somehow. He enlisted Jim Butt. to do the other side and that came out quite nicely. I fondly recall cruising around town in Scott Hane's Jeep, man that was fun.
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Post by chetzki on Apr 3, 2007 21:05:48 GMT -5
I too got to drive Mark's Camaro. That car really got around! Another awesome car was Chuck Butt's (Jim's bro) '69 Camaro convertible. One of my first college memories was cruising down Bluemont to Boston's "A Man I'll Never Be" in that car. We also spun out in the parking lot going to Tuttle when we didn't quite make a corner. Someone had a 70's Olds Cutlass that was in excellent shape. A guy older than me that I can't remember his name. Fish (or the Knife) Roger Bacalzo had a brand new Accord 2 door. That was a big deal because we were all so POOR! Another guy had a beautiful old Thunderbird. Now I can't remember his name! Dean Fresen had a red Fiero. He thought that was the coolest car in the world, wrecked it and then claimed others would do the same just to make their's look like his. We messed with him so much in the dorm that he would sleep in that car at times. Hey Dean what's that "DF" monogram mean on your sweater? Dumb F... I think it was Greg Sisco that came up with that one. Chetzki
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Post by Mark Hager 87-91 on Apr 4, 2007 10:23:20 GMT -5
Yeah, my camaro was a great car. I agree with Jeremy that it was a bit hard to shift, but the ladies didn't seem to mind. And the parking brake didn't work very well, which is a big part of the story that involves "Dan" and "dent." Dan always felt bad about that, but he DID set the brake.
One of the more memorable camaro stories was when I was feeling the whole thing wobbling on a drive over to Wamego. As I was making the last turn down the street to Chet's house, one of the back wheels popped off and rolled the last hundred yards into Chet's neighbor's yard. I picked it up and walked over to ring Chet's doorbell. I guess I must have looked pretty strange, standing there with one of my car wheels in my hands.
I had an Aerosmith pin on the driver's door. I'd love to have that car back, and spend a day cruising around with John listening to the Greatest Hits album. That'd be cool! I sold the car when I left for Peace Corps in the summer of 1991, and never saw it again. (But my wife gave me the newest Aerosmith hits compilation for Valentine's Day, so I get to rock out in my pickup now.)
Yeah, can't forget Dan's car or Scott's jeep. But I recall that Scott showed up his first year with a beautiful blue Mustang that he and his dad had spent the summer restoring. But Scott wanted a Jeep, so he sold the 'stang.
And Jeremy, I also remember Craig spray-painting his SAAB in the back parking lot. He'd rented a commercial spray-painter from one of those rent-a-center places. He asked me to take the sprayer back for him when he was done. However, he didn't clean it up... so the rent-a-center refused to give me his deposit back. Well, I wasn't going to argue about it... but Craig wasn't very happy when I told him about it.
Mark
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Post by Jeremy C_88-93 on Apr 4, 2007 12:08:32 GMT -5
Heheh. Lessee, how about Al Grant's VW bus? I bet that got a lot of 'mileage' if you know what I mean.
I remember when Kevin White showed up from Texas with his Beetle stuffed to the gills with his college gear. I mean it was STUFFED. Like he had left his suitcases behind and just crammed all his clothes into his car.
Yeah, Scott's Mustang was sweet. I remember Scott took me to Lawrence for a weekend to meet another friend of mine. I was driving around with my friend and we just happened to pass Scott. My friend started drooling and said "Whoa, check out that 'stang". And I was all, "Yeah, that's my friend Scott" ;D
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Post by chetzki on Apr 4, 2007 20:14:05 GMT -5
Seeing Mark with that tire was amazing. I can't believe you made it to that last corner!
Robert Brooks had a light blue Monte Carlo we took down to TX Jam in Dallas. We spent the night in that car in the parking lot of the Cotton Bowl. One of the most horrible nights of my life. Surrounded by druggies, pot smoke heavy in the air and HOT and humid. Ugh. Concert was good though! Saw Aerosmith. ;D
Chetzki
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Post by Jeremy C_88-93 on Apr 23, 2007 17:38:10 GMT -5
I remember how Jerry used his patented anti-theft trick. Any time he parked his car on the street overnight he would open up the distributor and remove the rotor, reattaching everything so a casual observer would see nothing wrong.
I'm thankful I can now have a car with theft protection that doesn't involve raising the hood whenever I park. ;D
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Post by Mike DeHaven 88-90 on Apr 28, 2007 17:31:14 GMT -5
Yes, I drove Mark's car as well. I can still remember Mark sitting in the passenger seat holding on for dear life. He made some comment about me shifting better than Jeremy, but I drove like I was in the Indy 500. Hey, it was a sports car. How else was I supposed to drive it?
I remember Craig painting his Saab, too. I think I helped out, or at least stood by and watched.
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Post by joelfromoz on May 8, 2007 23:29:38 GMT -5
My CJ7 parked across from Smith, fresh from a romp in the mud at Tuttle. I know Brad Ward went with his 4x4 truck and we both got stuck. Several other Smithies were with us and we literllay had to lift the trucks out of the mud. I remember Rich Myers pulled the tags off of his car and we all rolled it down one of the side streets to abandon it. Vern had a blue Maverick with red and yellow dots on it - the Wonder Bread Mobile. Darin Duffin had the nice T-Bird; '59 maybe???
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Post by Jeremy C_88-93 on May 9, 2007 15:14:30 GMT -5
Where at Tuttle was that Joel? Some non-Smithy friends went muddin' up at Randolph while I was mountain biking up there once. One guy had a Blazer and he got stuck. The other guy had a Toyota 4x4 pickup and didn't get stuck once. He also towed the Blazer to dry land. I have been impressed with Toyota ever since. I have yet to own one, but I don't get an opportunity to go off-road these days.
After I got a real job and bought an '89 Nissan Pathfinder, I practically raced up to Randolph to try it out off-road. Unfortunately it was late summer/early fall and dry as a bone with weeds higher than the hood. I went through a patch and got scratches all down the side. Grrrrrrrrrrr. Stupid me.
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Post by joelfromoz on May 9, 2007 21:45:22 GMT -5
I honestly can't remember. I think Bob Lee took us up there. I remember it was quite a ways north, and the road just dropped you down onto this marsh at the edge of the lake. When we went the dirt roads were so muddy that we almost couldn't stay on the roads - so you can imagine what the lake was like.
I'm like you - I've had some nicer 4x4's since college, but I've always been afraid to tear up the nice ones!
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Post by Jeremy C_88-93 on May 11, 2007 10:42:17 GMT -5
Might have been Randolph. It's way up north on the western side of the lake. But it's a bonafide off-road vehicle area and there are usually a handful of motocross riders and dune buggies up there. You sort of wind your way around on a jeep road before hitting a marshy, creek area that drains into the lake.
I was always pretty interested in local history so one of the neatest things (to me) about Randolph (right after the awesome trails) is that you can find portions of the old highway that ran along the lakeshore. Apparently sometimes it's above water and sometimes below and there at Randolph it was clogged with driftwood which made for some very technical mountain biking. :-)
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Post by Kendric Beachey 90-95 on Jul 4, 2007 22:36:10 GMT -5
My first week at the house (before class started) I followed Mark in his Camaro out to Tuttle for a house function. He was hauling around pretty good! I thought it was a test to see if he could lose me, but I was in my old bomb, a 68 Pontiac Catalina with a 400 cu in engine, so he never got much of a lead. After we arrived he complimented me on keeping up. :-)
I think at some point my car was inoperable but had to be moved, so after house meeting we got like ten guys to go outside and push the thing down the block to a new spot. It weighed 4000 lb, so it was a big ordeal.
Years later I hit a wet patch on Sunset and skidded into a curb, putting the front wheels out of alignment by about 30 degrees...that episode was an adventure, but I don't think anyone else from the house shared it with me.
It was a great car...I once nailed a deer out near Salina and the car didn't even flinch. It just had little bits of hair stuck in the grill after that.
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Post by visser on Feb 21, 2008 13:00:13 GMT -5
I had a 71 Dodge Dart. Do you remember the student dieticians we had? Well, I was able to convince _________ (forgot her name) that she should go out with me on a date. Since she was a senior and I Fr or So, I was VERY pleased she went. (Mark H. did you have a term ..."She was fun to look at?")
Speaking of the anti-theft it actually was a bad choke. Everytime I started the car, I had to pop the hood and wiggle the choke for it to start.
Nonetheless, she told me I was jail bait. I countered that I was legal age. She must have been nervous about the car I am sure and just needed an excuse to end the "relationship".
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