Ol’ Mel Kuhn didn’t listen to me well enough when he was buying
parts. I told him all my engines are equipped with two shafts. The first
one is in the engine and the second one is in the warranty! Mel always
asks,” What’s new?” I always tell him that nothing is new—-everything
is used or rebuilt around here. Besides that, you can’t get many
Cadillac parts to fit an old worn out Stud–ebaker! How about that, Mel
Kuhn?!! Thanks Gary!

Dick

As long as the snowplane reminiscing is fresh, there are a couple
more memories I could throw in. I was out at Pigeon’s farm one time and
looked at one of the snowplanes they were working on. Gary had rigged an
old double barrel shotgun under the dash and pointing forward through a
hole in the nose. He had sawed off the stock to a pistol grip and then
soldered two rods to the barrels. On top of these rods he had welded
circles so that when you lined up the circles, through the windshield
and had a fox or coyote in both circles, you pulled the trigger! I
remember how he couldn’t stop giggling while I was checking it out. He
was quite the inventor!

Another snowplane they built was made with a Volkswagen Bug body. It
turned out to be way too heavy and got stuck every time they hit deep
snow. That one went in the junk, I think. They also chased fox and
coyotes with cars when there was no snow. They took a pretty nice 1950
Lincoln four door and cut the top off so they could stand up and shoot.
Russell told me he was driving once and Gary stood up in the back seat
to shoot at a fox just when Russell hit a washout in the tall grass. The
car made a wild bounce and threw Gary up in the air. When he came back
down he was laying on the trunk lid with just his heels holding him from
falling off! They were both laughing when they were telling me about it.
I’m sure stories could be written about the episodes of the Pigeon boys!
Thanks Gary!

Dick

Larry Shirk, Class of 58