[Rhodes22-list] Cars instead of boats...

[Brad Haslett]

Elle,

Forgive me If I've already told this one, your story about your driver's
exam reminded me of an experience.  Other than my sons, I've taught only one
other person how to drive and hope it was the last time.  A Chinese grad
student who was renting our garage apartment wanted to buy a car and asked
if I could teach him how to drive.  "Oh sure".  He wasn't very convinced so
I followed with "I put myself through college teaching people how to fly,
teaching you how to drive will be easy!"  Overconfidence is a dangerous
thing.  He insisted on buying a five-speed so I found a Honda CRX
two-seater, my thought being we'd be putting fewer people at risk.  After
about two hours of driving around a parking lot at the U of M, I got brave
enough to let him on the street.  Thirty minutes later my nerves were shot
and I called it a day.  Two days more of training my sanity was completely
gone and I had him drive to the examiner station.  The examiner lady was
grossly overweight and barely fit in the car.  The examinee popped the
clutch and killed the engine immediately.  About two minutes later they
showed back in the parking lot.  "This can't be good", I was thinking.  It
took a couple of tries for the examiner to squeeze herself out of the car
and get her center of gravity to a walking position.  She stomped to the
door which I held open for her, muttering under breath, "jesushchrist!"  I
walked over to the car to console the student but he had a big grin on his
face and gave me a thumbs-up.  To this day I'm convinced she passed him only
because she didn't want to relive the experience a second time.  That's been
about five years ago and to my knowledge he hasn't killed anyone yet.

Brad

On 10/29/07, elle <watermusic38 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> Dang...re: high speed...I'll have to wait until I go
> to work this weekend to see that.....
>
> Which reminds me of a story....
>
> When I got my license in '63 or thereabouts, we had a
> '57 Mercury Monterey, black with gold fins, 18" tires,
> if I remember correctly (important info for later in
> this story...)Seemed huge but was as comfy as driving
> your sofa......it had a new deal : an automatic
> transmission that had buttons on the left side of the
> steering wheel that you'd push for drive,
> etc....two-barrel carburetor which my dad had to
> disconnect because my lead-footed sister was burning
> gas like there was no tomorrow...(what was it then,
> about $.27/gal ?)
>
> Dad didn't have to worry about my speeding, as I had
> not yet reached my full height & was more like 4'9 or
> 10, so I could only reach the gas pedal with the tips
> of my toes to at least get close to the speed limit.
> (Now this was in central PA, so you didn't want to go
> too fast & scare the Amish buggies...)
>
> I had to sit on a sofa cushion as well as have one
> behind me to be able to see over the wheel, so I was
> effectively sandwiched between the pillow & wheel.
>
> Going for the driver's license in PA (at least back
> then) one drove around a course & performed a few
> other maneuvers at the trooper's direction....who is
> sitting in the front passenger seat all stern &
> proper, and barely saying anything other than the next
> instruction...
>
> So I completed the course & had only the 3-point turn
> to complete...
>
> The only way to get those big wheels to turn was to
> hold high on the wheel  just off center & pull down
> with my full 90 lbs.. .(no power steering, if I
> remember...)
>
> After completing this last trick, I looked over at the
> trooper...he was having a mighty difficult time
> remaining poker faced....after he composed himself,
> pronounced me as having passed the test, he asked,
> still chuckling, "Doesn't this car have power
> steering?"  (DUH)
>
> Those were the (car) days.....
>
>
> elle
>
>
>
> >
> >
> > This is about cars... not boats...
> >
> > While Elle was out of the country, someone found out
> > what cars she drove
> > when she was a young chick and made a video clip of
> > her cars.
> >
> > You need high speed internet to see the video at:
> >
> > http://oldfortyfives.com/CarsWeDrove.htm
> >
> > Mayby Alan, Bob and Rik will also relate to this
> > video...
> >
> > Ed K
> > Greenville, SC, USA
> > --
> > View this message in context:
> >
> http://www.nabble.com/A-Very-Blustery-Day%21-tf4711459.html#a13473048
> > Sent from the Rhodes 22 mailing list archive at
> > Nabble.com.
> >
> > __________________________________________________
> > Use Rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org, Help?
> > www.rhodes22.org/list
> >
>
>
> We can't change the angle of the wind....but we can adjust our sails.
>
> 1992 Rhodes 22   Recyc '06  "WaterMusic"   (Lady in Red)
>
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