Inquisitive Quest

1957 Chevy

.  Gary was ready to call it a night at Fletcher’s Signal Station,  having finished his sweeping of the service bay, putting the product displays inside, waiting for the Bishop O’Dowd High School  graduate and station closer Ted,  to balance the cash drawer,  and place the receipts in the stations hiding place,  so owner Ed Fletcher could open in the morning.  Ted was just about finish when a  red and white 57 Chevrolet pulled up to the pumps,  ‘oh well’  thought Gary,  ‘one last customer’, having yet to turn off the pumps or the outside lights.  Walking out to the pumps,  Gary thought he recognized the driver, it was Gary McArthur,  a friend of Teds who had graduated from Castlemont in January.  McArthur having been a member of the Bishops, a high school service club composed of quasi-car enthusiast.  The school putting the club on probation and finally disbanding it the following semester, it was rumored it had something to do with after school hubcaps disappearance activity.

.  Gary looking closer at this 1957 shining example of craftsmanship,  its polished body gleaming in the soft glow of the stations lights,  standing  poised like a thoroughbred.  It was identical to the 57 Chevrolet posted on all the billboards across the nation, and TV as the one entering and winning the competitive Hill Climb Pikes Peak Race,   the annual 12 mile,  156 turns,  prestige’s run up the Colorado Peak.   Gary couldn’t believe what he heard next from McArthur, ” This is the car that was in the race”.    His narrative continued,  the company he worked for,  Bruce’s Tire Company,  had purchased the car from Chevrolet for display and advertisement purposes,  also saying with a tone of indulgence, he would be taking it to the competition at Vacaville.  Gary was aware of the drag strip at Vacaville, and the planned new raceway soon to be constructed.

.  Ted joining the two, the hood being raised, it was the first time Gary had viewed a Chevy 283 fuel injected engine, it was Chevrolet’s first year for  fuel injections.  McArthur continuing that he would enter it in the stock classification,  but in reality it wasn’t strictly a stock model,   Chevrolet having changed the rear end gear ratio, manufacturing enough models to justify a stock designation.   Gary walked around looking inside expecting a plush interior,   stepping back,  discovering the  interior was stripped of all normal seats  and fitted with a framework of welded steel,  forming a roll cage that encompassed the interior.   A single seat occupying the space behind the steering wheel, a stock dashboard remained,  but with specially mounted cluster  gauges.   The young teen was taken aback,  this definitely wasn’t  a car for cruising.

.  Get in,    were the words spoken by McArthur,  and without hesitation the teenager open the door and then stopped.  Nowhere to sit, no seats,  and nothing to grasp or hold onto in the front.   McArthur motioned towards the back,  saying,  “hunch down, and hold on to the roll  bar”,  the youth grasping the metal bar traversing behind the driver’s seat.   Gary squatting on the back portion of the floorboard,  able to raise up enough to see over the dash,  having a good view of the road.   The car progressing onto Mountain Boulevard,  the youth  reflecting on his surroundings, the adrenalin flowing as it absorbed the aura from this icon of a car.   For an instant he wished this moment could be captured for visual prosperity,  to be preserved for the agnostic to see.

.  The car idled down Mountain Boulevard to Holmes Avenue,  making a  U-turn to a stop.  The distance between Holmes and Shone avenue  on Mountain Blvd was known as a teenager designated quarter mile.  Gary was savoring the moment,  the tires screamed and the Chevy exploded forward, he grasped the roll bar as the G-force was ever increasing.  McArthur shifted into second gear,  the tires squealed again, the force grasping him in its clutches, pulling him backwards.  He glanced at the speedometer as they blew through the intersection of Shone, it was registering over 90,  the car continuing but with compression backing down.  It felt like a hundred pound weight had been release from pulling him backwards,  McArthur making a U turn heading back to the station.

.  Getting out, Gary was speechless,  the ride may have ended,  but one thing for sure, the memory would remain.

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