The Transition Car

Near the end of my senior year of high school, my dad had become very frustrated trying to find out what was wrong with the electrical system in the 56 Olds.  He had taken it to Hires Auto Parts and asked their opinion, but they were befuddled by the fact that it just stopped after 20 minutes.  That is why he decided to sell it and get me a more reliable vehicle.  It probably didn't hurt that a teenager from New Haven gave him more than he paid for the Olds to begin with.

What he found for me was a 57 Plymouth.  In form, it looked like the picture attached, but I couldn't recreate the intense metallic blue color.  The car as dad bought it was a dull tan color, but dad thought that I needed something that would equal the car that he sold, and a guy who painted cars owed dad money, so that is how I ended up with a metallic blue Plymouth.

It had few idiosyncrasies.  In fact, other than the color, it was probably the only car that I have driven that  was kind of blah.  But it did have push buttons instead of a gear shift.  That took a little getting used to.

So, what can you really expect in this story.  Well, I did drive the Plymouth to my graduation at the Coliseum.  It took me to the interview for my summer job with Penn Central.  I got the job and the Plymouth was my transportation to the three clean-up tracks that I had to inspect as my only responsibility to Penn Central.

I guess that was what made that car interesting - the job.  You see, I was given a clipboard that would be called a spreadsheet.  On it I was to write the number and name from every box car that was on the clean-up track.  I was then to judge whether the company that rented the car had cleaned it sufficiently.  If it was still pretty messy, I was to go to the headquarters and look up who had rented the car and send them a bill.

I was to be at the first clean-up track near GE on Anthony by 8:00 in the morning and then I went to the other two tracks after I finished there.  When I completed the inspections, I went to the block house near International Harvester to do the research.  This process was supposed to take me all day.

It never took me more than three hours.  In fact, most days I would go to all three sites and find no box cars at all.  I felt bad, so I went to my immediate supervisor to find out if I should go out again in the afternoon.  I was shocked to find out that there was another person doing this same job later in the day.  He was always busy.

That meant that I almost always had over half a day that I was being paid, but didn't have to be at work.  And that is why the Plymouth was important.  It was dependable and gave me an independence that I had never felt before.  And the fact that a couple of my friends worked second shift allowed us to head to the lake or Pokagon on a regular basis.

It was such a great car that my Dad found a buyer for it just before I headed to college.  It was a memorable transaction.  He told me that he had a better car for me (it was previously owned by our minister); one that would be dependable.  It wasn't.  But that is the next story, and by the way,  Penn Central did not continue the inspectors position the next year.