Broomfield, CO - early 70's

Hi again,

My oldest brother is 3 years older than me. He must be 17 when this story takes place in Broomfield. He has worked really hard at a machine shop and earned enough money to buy a car. He buys a sweet 1964 Chevy Impala/SS. It is aqua colored with a white hard top. It is pretty nice and he loves it...........

Sometimes my dad needs to "borrow" it.
I think the engine blew in his own car or something.... 

I am at the library with my 3 friends (the ones who made cheerleader in 8th grade). We are doing homework and dinking around there. It is either a Wednesday or Thursday evening. Pretty soon, my brother (the one who walked to the Denver Museum when he was little) comes into the library and finds me. "You have to come home. Dad got in a car accident".

I'm worried and my friends were worried.....

Dad was driving my brothers 1964 Chevy Impala/SS. He was on his way back from Westminster or somewhere. He was a few miles from home when he wrecked. He crossed the highway (2 lanes on each side plus over a median) and rolled into a ditch. When they found him, his thigh was pinned under the open door and he was laying outside on the ground....

he had been drinking..............

he lived......................................

he ended up having this permanent dent in his leg from the door.......

my brother remembers walking up to my mom's shop (on that same highway) and seeing a tow truck towing a car (smashed) that looked like his???

Turns out it was his....My brother's car was totaled!! The whole front end demolished.....

I remember seeing it in town after they towed it. It was parked on the side of this gas station. It was wrecked pretty good.

How unfair for my brother and how irresponsible of my dad!

The next day at school (either a Thursday or Friday morning) - at a morning mass, the priest was "praying for people".......all of a sudden I heard him say my dads name......

(I'm not super religious - just happened to go to Catholic schools as a kid)

I felt embarrassed..... I knew my dad was drunk when he crashed, but I didn't know if anyone else knew.......my friends had told the people at school that my dad was in a car accident.......I guess that's how the priest found out.

A year or two later, my brother bought a 1963 Red Pontiac Catalina. It is also a pretty sweet car.

We have moved to Wyoming.......

My dad "borrowed" the Catalina. He drinks and drives again, and wrecks the 1963 Red Pontiac Catalina. My brothers car is totaled.....Our dad lives through this accident too.

The next car my brother buys is a 1967 Convertible Camaro, 8 cylinder, 4 speed. It is really really cool. Its original color is Candy Apple Red with a black cloth top but I think the paint is a dark grey primer on it now. He pays $500.00 for it. He loves this car.

Eventually, my dad insists that he has to borrow the Camaro to drive to Oregon and back.

OMG! NOOOOOOOO!!!! My POOR brother is BESIDE himself ..............................

"You are NOT taking my car"!!!!

"YOU ARE NOT TAKING MY CAR"!!!!!

My dad insists - he needs to drive to Oregon for a job interview or something.

He ends up driving it to Oregon and back.....a few times.....without wrecking it.

He drives the heck out of it though and it eventually throws a rod.

........it was my brothers problem now. He fixed his car and painted it red.

My dad passed away about 5 years later - (NOT in a car wreck).

My brother kept that Camaro until he was in his 40's. I even got to drive it once.

It was so powerful I could barely push the clutch in! It was fast too!

My message to all of you Dads out there would be:

"Please, Don't drink, drive, and wreck your teenage sons awesome car(s)".

: ) MF