This picture was taken in 1957 standing in the front yard of my parents house in W. St. Paul, Mn. just after I brought it home. I bought the car for $140, by putting $80 down, and the balance at the end of the next month. The owner wouldn't allow me to take the car until I paid the remaining $60. I had a newspaper route in those days, 310 customers, from which I grossed $65/month, and that was a lot of money to a 14 year old kid. Heck, that was more than twice what I paid for my used Cushman Eagle!

This photo (noted on the border) was Apr 1958, and you cannot see the snow evident in the earlier picture. I still haven't learned much more about photography, as I still get my shadow in my "pitchers" occasionally.

I replaced the 19" red wires with 16" black solids, used tires, no two tread patterns alike, and of course new Port-A-Walls, capped with trim rings and 39 Ford (V8) hub caps. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find any photo's of this configuration, even though this was the time frame where it actually ran continuously and reliably!

I drove it like this until mid 1960 sometime. The four banger, still running great, was removed to make room for a 303 cu in, 50 Olds, Rocket 88 engine.

The photo below was taken in the driveway of a garage I rented down the street from my folks house, until the new garage in our backyard was finished. I had installed a dropped axle, split the radius rods (dangling) and installed hydraulic brakes from a 47 Mercury station wagon which was abandoned in an empty lot (imagine that happening today!!)

• Stage 2 V8 power
• Stage 3 more power
• Resurrected in 1972
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