brought to mind another car from the same time slot—1962. George got
the fancy two door and Lowell Leonard bought a new ’62 Catalina four
door. This was a cheaper model of Pontiac but it had what we all
envied—–a 389 cubic inch V8 with tri-power (three deuces) and a
straight stick transmission. It was a frosty bluish green so no beauty
to look at but it had more guts than anything in town at that time. I
drove it to town a few times from the gravel pit where Lowell and I
worked in ’68. It was an older car then but it still had all the muscle
waiting for a call out. Of course I had to kick it a couple times just
to see if it was still there. It was. We had a few wild New Years
Eve’s in old Dunseith and on one of those nights, Lowell got stuck in
the ditch right in front of Dales and as he was going back and forth
from first gear to reverse, he popped the entire bottom out of the
transmission! Bad night for the Pontiac.
Another ‘sleeper’ type car in old Dunseith was Vernolle Hill’s ’59
Chevy four door Biscayne. He got the car from and older guy for not
much money and he replaced the old six cylinder engine with a big 348
engine with two four barrel carburetors. It had a standard (straight
stick) transmission and low geared rear end from behind the old six so
it had torque like a dragster. That was in ’72 when Mel Kuhn and
Vernolle and I worked at Lamoureux Brothers Garage. Mel and I asked if
we could take it to Dales for dinner a few times. Vernolle always let
us take it if we asked. He kept one carburetor linkage disconnected to
save gas when he was just driving around town but Ol’ Mel and I would
always just drive out of sight and hook it back up AND ring the old
devil out a bit! One story I remember was that Vernolle ran out of gas
up east of the Peace Garden, by George Gregory’s, and called the Texaco
to have someone bring him up some gas. Merle Allard sent ‘Little’ Chip
Johnson up there with a two gallon can of gas. Vernolle ran out again
before he made it back to town. It was about 15 miles. Good thing gas
was cheap. Thanks Gary!
Dick
Siamese twins
Siamese twins walk into a bar in Canada and park themselves on a bar stool.
One of them says to the bartender, “Don’t mind us; we’re joined at the hip. I’m John, he’s Jim. Two Molson Canadian beers, draft please.”
The bartender, feeling slightly awkward, tries to make polite conversation while pouring the beers. “Been on holiday yet, lads?”
“Off to England next month,” says John. “We go to England every year, rent a car and drive for miles, Don’t we, Jim?” Jim agrees.
“Ah, England!” says the bartender. “Wonderful country… the history, the beer, the culture…”
“Nah, we don’t like that British crap,” says John. “Hamburgers and Molson’s beer, that’s us, eh Jim? And we can’t stand the English – they’re so arrogant and rude.”
“So why keep going to England?” asks the bartender.
“It’s the only chance Jim gets to drive.”