Remember reading about Tom, the guy who learned how to race in my 400 horsepower Pontiac? He and I went out in his 1967 Fairlane. It was a 289 V8 2 barrel carb with three on the tree. We took Tom's car because it was snowing. 400 HP and slick tires on back, bad over winter. And since my name is not JAPP I do not use slicks when snowing, like he did.
We were both under 21 years old, but most distributors though I was older, so a case of beer was easy to buy. We always got it already cold. Tom and I could easily drink most of a case in one night. A lot of stops to drain the lizard. Alcoholics? YES! The beer was in the trunk. We would take about 6 bottles at a time to the front seats.
I did not have my license back yet. Six months goes slow with no wheels allowed. We were driving around the Speedwell man made lake between Manheim and Lititz. When we had beer we usually stayed away from the Loop. We made about 6 or 8 times around the lake property, it was big. We were traveling near where Tom and I would both buy houses later in life.
Tom had WSBA radio 910 York on, the best songs of the 60's. But on Saturday night from 11 PM to 1 AM WLAN 1390 had an oldies show called, Lovers & Losers that everyone in reach of 1390 had on. He would start by saying; High above the Liquor Store on Queen Street, all you running the Loop Route, We present Lovers & Losers on WLAN. That started the show.
They played the guys and dolls that loved and lost! Makes sense!! Tom's and my favorite song was Sea of Love. I don't remember who sang it, too much alcohol when I was young. We were going down the twisting road that comes out to Rt. 501. The last left bend had a guard rain that the plowed snow was piled like an angled ramp up to the top of the guard rail.
Tom & I were singing Sea of Love as loud as we could. Tom slowed enough, but we slid up the snow bank and the passenger side wheel hung over the rail. It was the beer, I was not thinking. I opened my door and jumped out to assess the damage. The ground sloped away from the rail post, I fell about 20 feet down the slope, more like slipped down.
When I got back up the hill the kids had stopped. Tom was frozen in his seat. His first accident. We could not back up. Some kids came along, about 17 or 18 just younger than us. They stopped to help. Neither of us had a chain to pull with. I told them to take the beer, they did not say no.
They took me to Lititz, 2 miles away, and I got a fellow I worked with, Ron. I knew he had a 4 wheel drive truck, and a Virgin 1964 3 deuce 4 speed GTO that I would have killed for then. That was why I bought the 1962 Catalina 3 deuce 4-speed. It was a sleeper.
Ron pulled us out, I asked him how much, he said 10 bucks. I paid him at work Monday. Now every time I hear Sea of Love, or pass that curve I think of Tom. Tom moved to Florida many years ago. His wife put his obituary in the Lancaster Paper about 12 years ago. He had a lot of friends here yet. He had a birth defect in his heart, it just stopped one day.
The fender was rubbing the passenger side tire till we got home it blew. We did not hear it rub, but it did. Tom I think had a jinx streak like I did. He bought another car later, automatic on the floor. He had his dad push him when his battery went dead. Both of them knew nothing about cars. When Tom put the trans from neutral to drive, it was like hitting the brake. His dad's front end and Tom's rear end were damaged. But the car started. Same car, Tom was just driving a year later, and the transmission was making noise, Tom was trying to get home when the transmission dropped to the ground.
We were both under 21 years old, but most distributors though I was older, so a case of beer was easy to buy. We always got it already cold. Tom and I could easily drink most of a case in one night. A lot of stops to drain the lizard. Alcoholics? YES! The beer was in the trunk. We would take about 6 bottles at a time to the front seats.
I did not have my license back yet. Six months goes slow with no wheels allowed. We were driving around the Speedwell man made lake between Manheim and Lititz. When we had beer we usually stayed away from the Loop. We made about 6 or 8 times around the lake property, it was big. We were traveling near where Tom and I would both buy houses later in life.
Tom had WSBA radio 910 York on, the best songs of the 60's. But on Saturday night from 11 PM to 1 AM WLAN 1390 had an oldies show called, Lovers & Losers that everyone in reach of 1390 had on. He would start by saying; High above the Liquor Store on Queen Street, all you running the Loop Route, We present Lovers & Losers on WLAN. That started the show.
They played the guys and dolls that loved and lost! Makes sense!! Tom's and my favorite song was Sea of Love. I don't remember who sang it, too much alcohol when I was young. We were going down the twisting road that comes out to Rt. 501. The last left bend had a guard rain that the plowed snow was piled like an angled ramp up to the top of the guard rail.
Tom & I were singing Sea of Love as loud as we could. Tom slowed enough, but we slid up the snow bank and the passenger side wheel hung over the rail. It was the beer, I was not thinking. I opened my door and jumped out to assess the damage. The ground sloped away from the rail post, I fell about 20 feet down the slope, more like slipped down.
When I got back up the hill the kids had stopped. Tom was frozen in his seat. His first accident. We could not back up. Some kids came along, about 17 or 18 just younger than us. They stopped to help. Neither of us had a chain to pull with. I told them to take the beer, they did not say no.
They took me to Lititz, 2 miles away, and I got a fellow I worked with, Ron. I knew he had a 4 wheel drive truck, and a Virgin 1964 3 deuce 4 speed GTO that I would have killed for then. That was why I bought the 1962 Catalina 3 deuce 4-speed. It was a sleeper.
Ron pulled us out, I asked him how much, he said 10 bucks. I paid him at work Monday. Now every time I hear Sea of Love, or pass that curve I think of Tom. Tom moved to Florida many years ago. His wife put his obituary in the Lancaster Paper about 12 years ago. He had a lot of friends here yet. He had a birth defect in his heart, it just stopped one day.
The fender was rubbing the passenger side tire till we got home it blew. We did not hear it rub, but it did. Tom I think had a jinx streak like I did. He bought another car later, automatic on the floor. He had his dad push him when his battery went dead. Both of them knew nothing about cars. When Tom put the trans from neutral to drive, it was like hitting the brake. His dad's front end and Tom's rear end were damaged. But the car started. Same car, Tom was just driving a year later, and the transmission was making noise, Tom was trying to get home when the transmission dropped to the ground.
Another friend ED, his Corvette was overheating. He ran a red light to get home before the motor blew. You guessed it! He hit a car that had the green light with the front of his fiberglass car. Was the Jinx they had coming from ME??
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