I don't know who took this picture or where; it was dated Sept. 1960. The "Alley Cats" band was playing in the rec hall at the Catholic Church in Rockwood on a Saturday. We had set up our equipment early. I was driving out to the hall just after dusk, and Doug Carter was riding with me. I decided to turn on to Woodruff road from Huron River Drive, because it would take almost directly to the church, and I would avoid all the potholes in Huron River drive. A light fog had settled in, but I was comfortable on the gravel road from the many bicycle day trips to Rockwood and back with other kids in the neighborhood. A rather sharp left turn in the road was partially obscured by fog, and not well lit, and as I turned, I was startled to see a mailbox sticking out over the edge of the road. I turned too sharply, and the car slid slightly. The car's wing window (remember those?) on the passenger side hit the mailbox and shattered. Before I could regain control, the car had careened across the left side of the road and into the side of a car parked in a driveway. It turned out the car belonged to the parents of one of Doug's school mates, who invited us in to call the police and our parents. Doug had bumped his head on the window (no seat belts then) and when he removed his hand from his forhead, it was a mess of blood. I turned out to be a small piece of glass in his hand, not his head. We took care of business with the police, checked the cars out, a drove on to the dance.
I tried to justify my mishap to Dad by explaining that there was no curve sign, no light over the corner, and I thought the mailbox hung over the road. We went out there together, and he agreed. I don't know who he told about it, but months later new signage was posted, the mailbox was moved (it wasn't even damaged by the accident!) and a new light had been installed on the curve.
I loved driving that car, and I used it for a date one night, when the floor shift lever "broke." I crawled underneath and found that a cotter pin that fastened the shift lever to the transmission had broken. I borrowed a bobby pin from my date and reconnected the lever. As far as I know, it was never replaced.
4 comments:
I always thought you were too cool having that car. I was impressed that you had a "foreign" car. Now that seems silly to be impressed by a car made elsewhere. I can't believe you fixed the car that night with a bobby pin! I knew those pins were good for something.
Awesome! I didn't know you had an ACTUAL picture of the Anglia. Earlier in this blog I was recalling all the cars we had and had to use a Google image of the Anglia for that. Great that you have an actual picture. I do remember when that happened. And now, because of some of my kids mishaps, I know what Mom and Dad must have felt when it happened. I don't know where the Anglia finally went. I do know that Kermit Buck was interested in it, but thought Dad wanted too much for it.
Another car I remember was Bruce Houke (sp?) had what I think was a '57 or so Thunderbird convertible. He came over one day to see Thom and was parked in our driveway. I remember the car had paint chipping off it and I was picking at it. Bruce saw me doing it and said, "that's OK, the more paint you peel off, the lighter the car will be and the faster it will go." If he still has that car in just about any reasonable shape today, he is a rich man!
What I remember most about the Anglia was that dad could park it in the garage with the other car. Two cars in a 1 1/2 car garage. When the Harry Potter movie came out (the one where they flew in an Anglia)...I recognized the style of car right away...kind of like a box on a skateboard
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