There was not much left of the old ford roadster. The shell of
the ford sat on the frame with no fenders, bumpers, or floorboards.
Dick had installed an engine out of a wrecked 58 Cadillac, and matched
it up with a four speed manual transmission out of a La Salle. Dick
then converted the mechanical brakes over to hydraulic from a 48 ford;
I think the rear end came from the same ford.
Dick drilled a hole at each end of four 2x4's to the width
inside the roadster then bolted them to the frame. One 2x4 went just
under the dash, the next was a little lower, were Dick installed the
clutch and brake pedal. The gas pedal was just a rod sticking out from
the engine. The other two 2x4's were about a foot apart, close in the
middle of the roadster, Dick nailed two apple box's to the two 2x4's
that would be our seats during the test run.
I got in the passenger side and Dick got in behind the wheel,
we were sitting in the roadster in an alley behind Dick's house. My
left foot was resting on one of the 2x4 under the apple box, the right
foot was on the 2x4 under the dash, and I was leaning forward, holding
on the front windshield post, there was no windshield. Looking down,
between my spread legs, I could see the back half of the engine, the
end of the exhaust pipe right next to the transmission, and the
driveline. A sick feeling came over me.
The alley was just an old dirt lane, and from were we sat in
the roadster to the end of the alley was about 200 yards. "Are you
ready John?" Dick asked, before I could answer, Dick fired up the
engine. A huge cloud of dirt came rushing up, between the 2x4's, along
with small stones, tinfoil, flattened milk cartons and many other
objects I could not see, but felt hitting parts of my body.
Dick hit the gas, I could not see him do it, but I heard the roar of
the engine, and felt the hot exhaust, running up my pants leg. The
roadster jumped sideways out of the dirt cloud, the first thing we
hit, was Dicks neighbors garbage can, I heard the Bong, then saw the
lid go flying over the fence. Then the roadster swing to the left, and
another lid went flying. After hitting a couple more garbage cans,
bags, small brushes, and a red wagon, we were flying down the alley.
I did not learn till later, when Dick hit the metal rod, he was using
as a gas pedal, it fell down along side the transmission and got
stick, so we were going down the alley full throttle. The end of the
alley was coming up fast, I looked over at Dick, and he was hunched
over the steering wheel, looking straight ahead.
We came flying out of the alley, smoking the tires across the street,
and were airborne when we entered the alley in the next block. Dick
killed the engine, I would like to say, we came to a gentle stop, but
Dick did not bleed the brakes, and it took the full length of the
alley, and then some to hop to a stop.
What saved us from total disaster? The cars coming down the street had
seen the huge dust cloud coming out of the alley and stopped. Dick and
I just sat there, in shock as the dirt cloud rolled over us. Just as
the dust cloud thinned out, the pain hit the bottom of my foot, I
looked down, and could see smoke coming out from the bottom of my
shoe, my Levis and a 2x4. Dick and I yelled at the same time, then we
both jumped out of the roadster, I sat down in the street and pulled
my shoes and pants off, then went hoping around from one hot foot to
the other. I could see Dick hoping around in his underwear on the
other side of the roadster.
The stopped cars started honking there horns, so with our pants and
shoes in hand, we pushed the roadster over to the curb. We put our
pants back on, and walked over to the entrance of the alley in our
bare feet. Looking up the alley, there had to be 30 garbage cans
dumped over, it looked as if the neighborhood dogs were enjoying
themselves.
Dick wanted to drive the roadster back up the alley, but I talked him
out of it, and we pushed it back home. We did our best to clean up the
garbage in the alley, but some of Dick's neighbors were not satisfied,
and Dick's parents got phone calls far into the night.
After fact: My right shoe curled up, and turned black, so the only
thing I lost out of this ordeal, was a pair of shoes. Dick ended up
cleaning the alley for the next two days, and he had to purchase three
garbage can lids, and he lost a pair of shoes too.
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