LOOKING BACK
If you like vintage cars, the
photo below should interest you. It was
taken in the parking lot of my Air Force barracks at Whiteman Air Force Base,
Missouri in 1964.
The red and white‘61 Chevy in
the foreground was mine. I had recently
traded in a 1960 Volkswagen bug for it as the Volks was just a bit too small
for me at 6’ 5” in height and it didn’t have a radio or heater. That was too Spartan for me but at the time
it was all I could afford with an Airman 2nd Class paycheck from the
Air Force. I paid $1,400 for that Chevy
and it was well worth it.
The Chevy was a great car
with the small V8 engine of those days.
Gas at that time in Missouri never went over about 26 cents a gallon and
was usually at about 23 cents so it was pretty economical to run on an Air
Force paycheck.
Another interesting aspect of
this photo is that many of the cars parked in the background, which were routine
for the time, became quite popular in later years as some of the great wheels of
the past. From right to left notice the ’60
Chevy convertible, ’57 Chevy 4 door, ’55 Chevy Convertible, and at the end of
the line, a ’57 Ford Convertible.
It was a great time to be
young. The kids of today don’t realize
the benefits of serving in the military and enjoying the memories and friendships
from it.
I doubt very much if I would have ever been able to enjoy a summer in Germany but I did in 1963 thanks to the Air Force “Operation Short Spurt” program of that era. Not everyone got great duty like that but serving one’s country was a great feeling and I have great memories from it.
I doubt very much if I would have ever been able to enjoy a summer in Germany but I did in 1963 thanks to the Air Force “Operation Short Spurt” program of that era. Not everyone got great duty like that but serving one’s country was a great feeling and I have great memories from it.
REMEMBER BOWLING?
I used to love to bowl. My wife Barb and I bowled in many leagues in the Kansas City and Scottsdale areas and we would rarely miss the pro bowlers on Saturday afternoon TV broadcasts of the Pro Bowlers Tour.
The attached photo was
probably the high water mark of my bowling experiences. Each July I joined a group of about thirty guys
from Kansas City who bowled in the prestigious Petersen Tournament in Chicago
and although most of them were better than I was, I was always invited to join
them in the Windy City. Fortunately for
me, I upset all of them and won the Kansas City squad that day in July of 1987. Needless to say, it was quite a thrill to
pull an upset like that. I only wish my
hair today was as dark as it is in that photo! I also wish I could still
average 200!
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