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 I
was born in San Pedro, California in September of 1932. We didn’t
have much money during the depression and so we had to fix our own
things around the house. My dad was a good teacher and I was a good
learner and could repair a lot of different things by the time I was a
teenager. Shop classes were my favorites and I wound up going to the
Art Center School of Design on a Ford Motor Car scholarship that I won
in a contest. They sure taught me a lot of illustration and drafting
skills. Then after that it was on to college to get a Vocational
Teaching and Supervision Credential.
My dad saw a 1903 one cylinder
Packard blow up right in front of him when he was about seven years
old. While in the army France in WW One, he was going to get a ride
in an airplane and it crashed when the wings folded up just before his
turn. So he hated machinery and rode a horse until 1924. Anyway I
loved machinery and cars, boats and airplanes, so a lot of time as a
boy was spent reading about those forbidden things at various
libraries. I had a paper route and worked in gas stations greasing
cars. Being from San Pedro, I played the accordion and did it rather
well, making money playing at banquettes and parties, and winding up
doing three shows a day every Sunday at Knott’s Berry Farm in the old
“Wagon Camp” in the early 50’s.
Well I wound up teaching a few
years in Jr. High, a few years in High School and a few years in
College. Then I went on to do college administrative work and finally
retired after 33 years as an educator. I always ran my own Art
Service business on the side so I could have a swimming pool or a
Porsche or some such car or boat, and life has been a lot of fun. My
tasks included a lot of aircraft, car, and boat maintenance and repair
manuals and catalogs, as well as illustrating accident and crime
scenes for court cases. Painting a lot of “fine art” oil paintings
for folks to hang on the wall was a lot of fun and I did one or two
every time Mary needed a household appliance so we could pay cash for
it rather than pay it out on time. Speaking of Mary, we met in
college at a big dance and that was it. We have been married for 48
years this June and are still going strong. But then she puts up with
a lot. Over the years, I will bet that Mary has pulled me, and our
sick cars with a long piece of rope for at least two hundred miles, a
little bit at a time. We have three sons; Dave, Bill, and Steve. They
are all successful, have families and not one of them has ever been to
jail, as far as Mary and I know.
In 1958 my brother in law phoned,
asking if we wanted a 1912 Buick Roadster for $500. It ran well but
needed a little t l c. That started Mary and I in the car hobby and
we have never looked back. We have had over 150 cars and over 20 of
them were convertibles. I fondly remember three, a 1952 Porsche, 66
Jag XKE, and 1939 BMW 328-9 all convertibles as well as our 1913 Caddy
Touring that we owned from 1960 to 1986. We have had at least six
Model T’s and a lot of brass cars as well as sports cars and
classics of many makes and models. There is just too much to talk
about on this page, so you will have to talk to Mary or myself about
some of our rare cars that have come and gone over the years. Over
the years we have also done a lot of sailing on our various boats. I
once sailed from Hawaii on a 40 foot sailboat and all four of us guys
took a swim every 100 miles in the Pacific Ocean. I also learned to
fly an airplane but can’t ride a horse or run on the track team any
more. Our two Speedsters are on the road to recovery and should be
back out this year.
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