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Joe and Cars I’ve owned over many years.

We will just let you imagination run with this image....and yes, that is a Porsche door separating the sink from the urinal!

I think my association with and attraction to automobiles really began back when I was around 12-13 years old.  At the time I was mainly interested in model airplanes and my friend Lee and I were building plastic models and had started to build U-control balsa glow modes as well.  Lee lived near the end of Spring Street about 6 houses below mine.  He was really the only boy on the street that was anywhere near close to my age. And was as I recall, about four years older. Across from Lee’s house were a series of houses that were owned by Mr. Dickau. He and his two sons also owned Glastonbury Lumber as well as a tobacco farm.  In fact, Lee’s mother worked for Dickau as a sorter on tobacco leaves.  Anyway, Dickau also owned most of the property on Spring Street and sold a good deal of it to individuals to build houses.  Our house was built on a lot that my parents bought from Dickau.  Dickau apparently decided to build a series of houses near the end of the street and use them as rentals so across from Lee's was a Dickau rental.  One day a new family moved into this house.  They were from the town of Marlborough and there were three girls ranging in age from 16-20 and I must admit all were very pretty.  Their mother was also very attractive and anytime you saw them they were usually dress “to the hilt”. There was also a boy name Bobby and he was about the same age as Lee; around 15 or so.  Bobby was a bit of a character I would say.  First, he was a weight lifter and so you could tell right away as his muscles were obvious.  He also talked incessantly about cars. He used terms that I never heard of like 2-4 barrels, bored and stroked, three deuces and so on.  It was also evident that he loved Oldsmobile’s as that is all he ever talked about.  One of his favorites was a 1956 Olds J-2.  Apparently those were also available in this J-2 model which apparently described the type of engine.  The J-2 version was equipped with three, two-barrel carburetors or better known as having “3 deuces”. Well, Bobby was always bragging about Oldsmobile’s and hot rods that had Oldsmobile for engines.  He was a bit of a braggart and to listen to him, he knew everything there was about cars.  He also claimed to be a mechanic and told us stories of the cars he worked on.

After a while, I began to learn some of these automotive terms myself and started throwing them among my grade school classmates.  Obviously, they had no idea what I was talking about (as neither did I) but it sounded really good.  As time passed, I became interested in learning more about cars and started reading hot rod magazines.  Bobby eventually got his driver’s license and it wasn’t long before I was itching to go with him. However, my parents had other ideas and forbid me to get in a car with him, period.  They made it very clear in no uncertain terms I was never to get in the car with any kids driving without their express permission.  Clearly, I was bothered by this and felt it was totally unfair. Here I was spouting off about all these new-found car terms and was really beginning to “speak the language” but I was not allowed to experience any of this for myself. I was probably the only kid in the world so severely restricted.  Then one day, Bobby’s mother bought a new car.  Bobby always said his mother would buy an Oldsmobile but here she goes and buys this big white Buick.  Now, in those days, Buicks were big, heavy and considered “old people’s cars”.  In fact, my Grandfather had a 1955 Buick with a straight 8.  I remember Bobby’s distress and disappointment when his Mom got that Buick and brought it home.  He claimed he lifted the hood and looked at the engine and just laughed! It was OK for him to ridicule that car but certainly no one else.  The day he got his license, he was out driving around in the Buick showing off and you could hear him “peel rubber” coming up the street.  One day he told Lee and me that his mother was buying new tires for it (probably because he burned the rubber off the original set).  The tires being purchased were “Bucrons” made by Atlas.  Apparently, these were good tires for racing so Bobby bragged that his mother was getting the Buick set up for him to race. I wanted to question him about his original opinion of the car when he “laughed” at the engine but I thought it best just keep quiet.  I had learned earlier that anything that Bobby had or was interested in was always the “best”.

As time went on I continued to expand my knowledge of cars by reading books and magazines.  Soon, I began build plastic car models.  There was this guy in California named Roger Barris and he was well known for customizing cars.  He could take a boxy 1950 Ford and by “chopping and channeling” could turn it into something that looked like it should have been driven by Batman!  Anyway, we built similar plastic models and did our own customizing.  I had even won second or third place in a local model car building contest and got my picture in the paper! It was not long before I was dreaming about cars and what I was going to build as I got older. I soon began to adopt Bobby’s ideas about using Oldsmobile engines (as they were the best!) and each model I built had an Olds engine installed. At the end of Spring Street near the corner of Main was a gas station known as Alexander’s. They sold Sunoco gas (a brand my father didn’t care for) so we never patronized this station. They worked on all kinds of cars and on those days when Lee and I would walk to Glastonbury center, we would cut through this station. One day we actually saw a 1956 Olds with a J-2 engine sitting in the lot with the hood up.  That was quite a sight and it wasn’t long before Bobby discovered it there and began bragging about how that was going to be one of his cars soon. Eventually, Bobby stated hanging around this station and got a job pumping gas. Of course he told us he was also a mechanic there but none of us ever saw him turning any wrenches. The closest I ever say him working on a cars was when Alexander’s decided to get into the used car business and would have Bobby wash and vacuum cars that were later put on their lot for sale. It’s funny what you remember as a kid and how important “image” was to your peers. It was not long before I started to hand around Alexander’s until my father found out. Again, I was forbidden to frequent that place (for unknown reasons at that time, but later discovered why) and reminded never to get in the car with Bobby.

One late afternoon a bunch of us were hanging around and as I recall, my cousin John was down visiting from Hebron Connecticut.  John and I were what you would say “best friends” even though were related. We were the same age *(I’m actually 5 days older) and shared many of the same interests; hunting, cars, outdoor stuff, etc.  John was not much interested in models or airplanes so that was one area where our interests went in different directions.  But, like me, he was a car nut so when he came to town, the subject usually went to cars (and later girls but that’s another story or two!).  That afternoon John and I were up to something and had permission to stay out late.  I think we took the bus to Hartford to see a movie and were allowed to stay out until 9 or 10 o’clock.  I do recall arriving back in town but too early to go home. Kids never go home early as we relished the rare freedom granted by our parents too much. John and I met up with some other kids and it wasn’t long before Bobby showed up with his Buick. Now, my cousin was not under the same parental restriction as I so when Bobby said “lets go for a ride”, Johnny jumped at the chance.  Bobby had a few others in the car and it was clear I was going to be left alone. With my parents warning ringing in my ears, I found myself in the back seat with 2 or 3 other kids. Bobby took off in a cloud of smoke as he lit up the rear tires when the gas pedal was mashed to the floor. Off we went, down Naubuc Avenue towards the Connecticut River.  We were on a back road and Bobby was really showing us his driving prowess.  All I can remember is lying on the floor of that 1958 Buick, watching the world go by and praying that if I ever got out of that car alive, I would never question my parent’s wisdom again!  I was scared “shitless” as was the common expression those days.  The car was all over the road and once or twice I observed telephone poles ready to jump out in front of us. I was convinced I was going to die that night! Somehow Bobby navigated around them and before too long, pulled up to the end of Spring Street.  Of course he had to drop us off there for fear of my parents spotting us. I walked home, happy to be alive and realizing my parents was right all along.  I never told them that story but that night, I learned a very valuable lesson.

As time went on Bobby’s mother (a platinum blonde) decided to trade in the Buick which Bobby had beat the shit out of, for a new Oldsmobile convertible.  In was a 1960 and probably 2 years old when purchased.  It was big, black and beautiful with red leather interior.  As I said earlier, Bobby’s mother was quite the “looker” as were his sisters so when they all got into that convertible, heads would turn especially when the top was down.  Bobby didn’t have a father and never mentioned one.  Anyway, these were all glamour girls and the car certainly enhanced their image (not that they needed it).  Bobby wasted no time in telling us this Olds was special and was really fast. In fact he claimed he could go from zero to sixty in 4.6 seconds, which was as fast as “Wolfe” Miller’s 32 Deuce coupe with and Olds engine would go ( a local hot rod).  By this time, I was still forbidden to ride in the car but I was getting braver.  Once I convinced Bobby not to repeat that last “night road course” demonstration, I would on occasion go for a ride in this Olds. One day, my parents and I were visiting my other cousin who lived in Wells Village. His name was Peter Lawrence and he had his own hot rod.  A few years previous, his father bought a used 1957 Olds and was really proud of that car. It was big and shinny with red leather interior. The fact it was a four-door model was overlooked by us youngsters (as we all look at 4-door cars as being for “old folks”). Before too long, Peter got his mitts on it and smashed it up big time. He was lucky he wasn’t killed, either in the crash or by his old man once he found out his new car was trashed! His father, as punishment, made him pay off the car and then gave it to him as his own. Peter did a ton of work on it including a J-2 engine with 3-2’s.  It was also fast. Anyway, here I was visiting the Lawrence’s and Peter and his older brother Bobby were messing around in Peter’s 57 Olds.  They were adjusting the carburetors and would take it out on the highway for testing.  I was invited along and rode in the back seat. Once in the car, I made the mistake of telling them about how fast Bobby Beaupre’s 1960 Olds convertible was. Peter and his brother looked at me like I had something crawling out of my ears!  Peter wasted no time in informing me in no uncertain terms that Bobby’s Olds was nothing more than a factory stock 1960 Olds Convertible that while elegant and smooth, was nowhere near the performance of a real rod such as his and he promptly proved it.  Off to the highway we went where Peter put his car through the paces.  Wow, did that car perform!  He was right; Bobby’s convertible could burn rubber but Peter’s car could perform.  I was beginning to understand that just because a car could burn rubber (which my father’s 1953 Chevy could not) it did not make it fast.  I learned another valuable lesson that afternoon!

OK, so Bobby is pumping gas at Alexander’s and Lee is working for Dickau doing odd jobs.  I got a paper route and began earning money.  But, I was still interested in cars and wanted to get a job in a gas station.  However, I was still too young as you needed to be at least 16.  My parents were very friendly across the street with our neighbors, the Wonicki’s.  The Wonicki’s had friends in the form of an elderly brother and sister named Jim and Ann Melody.  The Melody’s owned an old style repair garage in town that did all the maintenance on the truck and bus fleet for Consolidated Cigar Corporation. One day when visiting the Woncki’s, my mother mentioned that I wanted to learn more about cars to Mrs. Wonicki.  She suggested that I might be allowed to hang around Melody’s and sweep up. They might even let me do a few things around the shop; say on a Saturday and I could learn something about cars and mechanics.  Wow, was I excited. Of course, I already knew everything about cars so this was going to be a snap.  I was already dreaming about how I would impress the Melody’s and that soon, I would be allowed to do tune ups and repairs to their customer’s trucks.  Wishful thinking and dreaming!

Finally, the arraignments were made and my mother dropped me off at Melody’s one Saturday morning.  I was introduced to old Mr. Melody who looked me over carefully.  He was a stooped man and appeared very frail.  I think he suffered from asthma and had a problem with his leg. He was probably in his 60’s and while dressed in mechanic coveralls, didn’t do much in terms of actual mechanical work.  There were two mechanics working that morning; one was employed at Melody’s full time and drove a red 1961 Ford Convertible while the other worked part time on Saturdays only. His full time job was a truck mechanic for Sweet Life in Suffield.

No one said much to me as I arrived.  I think back today as to what they must have thought; here was this snot nosed kid hanging around an old garage. For what? Anyway, I assumed I would be given some “important” job right away. Well, it was..sort of.  As I said earlier, Melody’s no longer did regular customer work as they were under contact with Consolidated Cigar. Consolidated was a large tobacco company that produced cigars under various trade names like Dutch Masters. They employed much of their help from the islands like Barbados and Jamaica during the harvest period which began in mid summer.  Their fields were scattered all over the Connecticut River Valley so the transportation of materials as well as manpower was important.  They maintained a large fleet of truck and buses all painted a dark green and almost without exception, were all manufactured by International Harvester and commonly referred to as “corn huskers”.

I suppose they put a significant amount of mileage on these vehicles and since they were so expensive, they replaced a lot of major components when experiencing a failure.  That included engines and Melody’s had a mound of old engines piled up in the back of the shop in a corner which came out of the Consolidated trucks or busses.  Old man Melody explained these engines all needed to be all disassembled. Boy, I was to be given an important job. Imagine I was overhauling engines as my first assignment! I soon leaned these engines were actually scrap.  My job was to disassemble them and separate the steel from the aluminum and the cast iron.  I would disconnect the connecting rods and drive out the wrist pins to separate the pistons.  I would put the pistons and rods in a vice and remove the rings.  Then I would drive out the wrist pins and remove the aluminum piston and put the rod and wrist pin in a separate bin.  I leaned later that Mr. Melody sold this metal for scrap. The job was not glamorous but it did teach me a few things about engines and what the heck, I at least “looked” like a mechanic.  As I think back upon that experience, it was indeed a good way to learn about engines with minimal risk, either to the engine or to me personally since it was all scrap anyway.

I came back Saturday after Saturday and stripped engines, swept the floor (after I was taught the proper way to manage a push broom) by holding the handle with two hands and lifting the broom head off the floor with short jabs pushing the dust ahead. One day, Melody said to me I was going to work on an actual bus.  They had a couple in the yard that were there for routine maintenance. That included changing the oil and filter and greasing the undercarriage.  The mechanics handled the oil part and one of them showed me how to use the grease gun. I was to first, get on a creeper and find all of the “zerk” fittings and wipe them clean with a shop rag. Then I was instructed how to attach the grease gun and apply the grease until it oozed out.  Actually, it was pretty important work as it was explained, failure to properly grease items such as universal joints or “kingpins” would result in a component failure and down time on the vehicle. I spent the morning rolling around on my back on a creeper getting filthy as I greased these buses. You must remember these buses spent a good deal of the time in muddy fields so the undersides were pretty cruddy.

About this time I was introduced to a bit of mechanic humor. It was late in the day and I’d just finished greasing my fourth bus.  They were all out in the yard and we were cleaning up for the day. One of the mechanics called Fred (who drove the 1961 Ford Sunliner) asked me if I was certain I greased all of the fittings.  I replied “yes” just as Mr. Melody had showed me.  Then he asked me if I remembered to grease the muffler bearing?  “The what?  I’m not sure, where is it located?”  I was told just ahead of the muffler and it was really important that it be greased as the truck could catch on fire. Pretty soon, both mechanics and old man Melody were standing over me, swearing (as mechanic generally do) and complaining that they now had to bring each one of these buses back inside because “junior” forgot to grease the “muffler bearings”.  I was crushed, figuring I really botched my first responsible job. I was careful too but here I was, confronted by this team of experts challenging me about my “screwing up. I got a reprieve when I observed in old man Melody’s eyes that he figured this ruse had gone on long enough.  Soon, they were all laughing and it finally dawned on me my “leg” was being pulled.  I think it was their way of welcoming me at least partway into their ranks having accomplished some “real work” that had value.  It was a lesson that would be repeated over and over again as I became more involved in the world of auto mechanics.

As I reflect back on my time at Melody’s, I realized they probably took advantage of me to a certain degree.  They got a significant amount of “free” labor out of me and it wasn’t always working on trucks as one Saturday it snowed and I mean “snowed”.  A couple of us piled into a truck and drove to this house in Wethersfield where we shoveled.  I mean we shoveled the driveway, sidewalks, everything.  We probably spent a few hours there before driving back to the garage where I learned the house belonged to a Mr. Baldwin and he was a Vice President at Consolidated. You see,  much earlier as I first began working at this garage, my mother instructed me not to accept any money from them in the event they tried to pay me.  I was there to learn, period and that was my pay. After weeks of my working there went by, there was no danger in me need to refuse payments because none was ever offered.  When my mother found out I was shoveling snow for them, she was disturbed. Certainly, that had nothing to do with learning about how to fix cars; it was taking advantage of a situation.  Later we would learn that this Mr. Baldwin was fired from Consolidated and we often thought there must have been some kind of sweet heart deal between him and the Melody’s over the years. It was another important lesson learned.

I continued doing my paper route until I turned sixteen.  My father got me a job of sorts working for his fried Eddie Melzen picking up and delivering TV’s that needed repair.  I did that job as well as working in a dry cleaners after school.  This all occurred about the same time I started to make friends in school and some of them had cars.  While I had my license now and Dad gave me my first car, the old 53 Chevy I was still not involved in

auto repairs.  I did become interested in auto-body work chiefly when one of my friends decided to attend a trade school in Waterbury and learn the auto body business.  My initial entry into “body” work was to repair the rust on the rear fenders of that 53 Chevy. I ordered a “fiberglass” auto body repair kit and managed to cover over the most of the rot. Over a period of a couple years, I painted that 53 Chevy a couple of times, the first a putrid “Pea” green and ultimately, Heritage Burgundy.  It seemed that painting cars was not only interesting to me but fun.  I even did some autobody work and painted a couple of cars on my paper route.  Mr. Puzzo, a neighbor who lived at the end of our street had an old 1957 or 58 Plymouth that was almost completely rusted out.  I fixed the rust and painted that car for free as I saw it as a challenge.  I was always looking for projects and seeing something older and in need of repair just struck me as the right thing to do; a challenge of sorts. Another paint project was a 1956 Chevy on my paper route that belonged to a fellow named Arel. While delivering papers on my route I observed him painting his car with spray cans and doing a horrible job so I convinced him I could do it better and brought my little compressor over one Saturday and we did the job. It came out OK but Mr. Arel failed to prep the surface by sanding the car before painting it.  That winter, when the snow and ice came off it in sheets, so did most of the paint!

As my love affair with cars grew I began to associate with others at school with similar interests. Cars were a big thing; a status symbol and, there were kool! One such fellow was Tommy Stino. Tommy lived near the corner of Addison Road and Hebron Avenue in Glastonbury and adjacent to his yard was an old cement block building that housed a local car club. I don’t recall it’s name but most of the members were from Manchester, the next town over from Glastonbury. I would say there were some 25 members and ages ran for late teens to late twenties, maybe even thirties.. Tommy and I both joined the club and took advantage of its facilities which included a pit that you could drive a car over and work on underneath. I made a few friends in the club but it wasn’t long before the club folded and each of its members went their separate ways. I do recall one interesting experience while in that car club. First, there was this “character” that went by the name “Rebel”. He drove a fairly new Mercury Comet with a 289 and 4-speed; a hot rod version of the Ford Fairlane.  Rebel sort of billed himself as a master mechanic, racer and whatever and used to hold court around the local “hang outs” in Manchester. At the time,

I was working at Monaco’s and was learning the trade. I was driving a 54 Ford, my second car and after helping one of the truck mechanics at Monaco’s put a set of main and rod bearings in a motor, decided I would replace the bearings in my car. The old mechanic at the shop recommended that I use a set of standard “Blue” replacement bearings which were slightly oversized (by a 1’2 of a thousandth of an inch) because the engine was old and worn. Sound advice; too bad I didn’t pay closer attention to how they were installed! Then, on a Friday night, we pulled my car into the club’s bay and over the “pit”. I removed the oil pan (getting filthy dirty in the process) and began to replace the rod bearings. Now, to do this, you remover the nuts and pry off the rad “cap” In side the cap is ½ of the bearing. The other half is in the rod so you take a stick or screwdriver and push the rod up an inch or so and push out the old bearing half. You then take a rag (always in short supply), wipe off the crankshaft and rod surfaces and push in the two bearing half’s. Pretty simple. At each end of the bearing is a little notch which prevents the bearing from turning inside the connecting rod. I figured that you would place the rod caps back on so these two “notches” were opposite one another. What I should have done is look at a manual and “confirm” that is how they were aligned. More about that later. After completing all six connecting rods, I moved to the main bearings of which there were four. By now, it‘s Saturday and I’ve just about finished up. The oil pan was back on and I was pouring new oil back into the engine. I was pretty happy. Here I was, doing real mechanical work just as I helped do in the dealership. I hit the starter expecting the engine to roar into life but received a thunderous “click”! The click was the starter engaging but not turning the engine over. Figuring it was a weak battery, one of the club members hooked up a set of jumper cables. The cables begin to melt. That should have been a clue! OK, well, it looks like we have a “tight” motor. By this time that fellow named “Rebel” shows up at the club. He comes up with the idea that he will put an old tire between my back bumper and the front of his car and gibe me a “push”. That should start it!

Picture us running down Addison Road with this high performance 289 Ford V8 winding up and my 54 Ford picking up speed. I look in the rear view mirror and see the grille of the Comet pressing against the old tire. My car is now accelerating to 40 MPH as I let out the clutch and the rear tires begin to squeal in protest! I try in a couple more times until I smell a burning clutch; mine! “What the H!” We finally get the car back over the pit and I take it all apart again. With the oil pan off, I remove the bearings and the engine is locked solid! I pull the transmission and clutch as well. Monday, I’m at work at Monaco’s discussing the problem with the mechanic. I suspected that the standard “blue” bearing were just too tight! He’s not convinced but I buy another set of standard “red” which are not oversized. I also buy a rebuilt clutch and pressure plate. Back to the club that night, I change the bearings but this time I test turning the engine after each bearing is installed. The engine is still tight but by only tightening the connecting rods by 2-5 foot- pounds of torque (rather than the required 30 foot –pounds) the motor turns over. A few days later, the clutch is repaired and the new bearings are in. Miraculously, the engine starts!

I drove that car for a year and new had a problem with the engine. When I was done with it, I gave it to a class-mate Gary Zigra who chopped it up into a doodlebug to use on his farm. All that time, the engine is running with the connecting rod caps on “backwards”!  Those “notches are not opposite but together! It was a hard lesson learned and one of those moments that convinced me to always double check my work with the proper manuals and instructions, not matter how “smart” I’d convinced myself I was!

My cousin John and I were always talking about cars. John lived in Hebron where there were lots of farms and open pastures along with friends who came from farms. That allowed us to procure old cars and run them around on the fields or convert them into doodlebugs; sort of a farm tractor made out of an old car. Hanging around John ended up introducing me to one of his friends and neighbors, a fellow name Carl Benkhe. Carl had an older cousin who was in the process of building a bachelor pad on Coventry Lake not far from Hebron. Spending an afternoon over there, we discovered “Dick” had an old truck that he was using to haul dirt and rocks around the constructions site. When Johnny saw that truck, he fell in love! It was as I recall, a 1939 Ford pickup complete with wooden floored bed, flathead V-8 and while in “running” condition, was in need to an overhaul. I don’t remember how this all came about but by the end of the day, we drove that pickup to my house is Glastonbury. As was typical, John had visions of us “restoring” that old truck as most things looked simple to him. The truck was registered so it was easy to get it to my place and eventually, a number of other locations as we (mostly me!) proceeded to hammer out dents and get the body ready for paint. I took it to school one day and while in metal shop, welded some knerf bars on the front where a bumper would be. At some point, we figured Dick would attach a board to these bars and use it to push stuff around. A few weeks later, we had the bed cleaned out and painted and the rest of the truck body ready for paint. We picked up a gallon of bright green auto enamel from NAPA and on a weekend, painted the entire truck. It was another “experiment” in my teaching myself the art of body work on someone else’s car. It wasn’t a showpiece by any stretch of the imagination but it looked far better that when we pulled it off of Dick’s muddy construction lot. We even replaced the spark plugs and points and condenser. Those old flatheads had dual points and were located in distributors behind the dual water pumps. That itself was a challenge but somehow we got it running again. Eventually, we drove it back to Dick’s house and presented it to him as a finished package. Once again, I don’t think we ever got paid for any of the work done on it but of course, we “volunteered” our services.

By this time I was in high school and met up with a classmate by the name of John Hillman.  John has a gorgeous 58 Chevy convertible (that never had the top down that I can ever recall).  It was black with a black top and black interior.  It had a 348 v-8 with tri-power and a four speed.  John’s father was an executive with Shell Oil and probably through his contacts, got John a job pumping gas at Monaco Ford). Monaco’s still maintained a Shell gas station as part of their dealership and John worked their part time after school. In my senior year, I decided I’d had it with TV’s and dry cleaners and walked into Charlie Monaco’s office to see about a job for myself.  He knew my parents but that cut no ice with Charlie.  He asked if I was willing to work hard and show up on time each day. I promised that I would and that I was sincere. He gave me a job but it wasn’t pumping gas, it was actually working for his brother, Sonny who was the service manager inside the Ford dealership. Wow, I never expected that but my first job was probably the dirtiest in the business; applying undercoating to the bottom of new cars.  When there were no new cars to undercoat, I helped out “Tommy D” on the grease rack greasing cars, vacuuming them out, changing tires or whatever needed to be done. At least my experience and training at Melody’s was proving to be of some value.

Anyway, I had my Dad’s old ’53 Chevy as my first car. I was allowed to only drive it to certain locations of which, school was not one of them unless it was a special occasion. I was in my junior year of high school and as I recall one day, I was allowed to drive to school. This was pre-Monaco’s employment and I was still working for Melzen.   I was heading out Rt. 85 (Hebron Ave) and as I approached the intersection of Oak Street, I observed an old Studebaker roll through the stop sign and pull out in front of me. I hit the car broadside and just about totaled the Chevy and nearly cut the Studebaker in half. The woman was not hurt but both cars were a mess. Pretty soon, here come Monaco’s wrecker and towed my Chevy away. It was wintertime and that car sat in Monaco’s new car lot and was eventually plowed in with a pile of snow. It wasn’t until spring before I was able to get my car back. In the meantime, the lady involved in the accident told her insurance company another story and they refused to pay any damages. My parents decided it was not worth fighting so I was out of luck. Eventually, the snow melted and Monaco’s towed the Chevy home in the spring. Around the same time, my Dad found a 1954 Chevy that was hit in the rear. It was a “stick shift” so we decided to scrap it for parts; I would use the nose to replace the damaged fenders and hood on my car and the rest of the parts including the transmission would be used later to convert my 53 from an automatic transmission to a standard. All spring we stripped that car and my Dad, with one arm cut of the body and frame with a hand hacksaw! Eventually, we took the old metal to a dump area that was looking for dry fill. Our next-door neighbor had a dump truck so we loaded all the old metal and off we went.

Within a few weeks, I had the old Chevy back on the road with a black nose. I eventually did repair the rest of the body and ended up panting it Heritage Burgundy. By this time, I had made friends with the fellows at National Auto Parts (NAPA) and I was mixing my own paint. It was fun and I learned a lot about painting and repairing cars just hanging around the parts store. Funny thing though, I never did end up converting the Chevy to a standard transmission.  In my high school metal shop I did manage to make a couple of carburetor risers. I brought in an old intake manifold and with a little drilling, cutting and brazing, I turned that manifold into a “tri-power” although the most I ever used were two carburetors, mainly because I couldn’t afford to buy a third! Eventually, I ended up ruining the automatic in the Chevy and soon after, ruining the transmission in my parent 61 Ford station wagon. So, for a period of about 2-3 months I was without wheels. Part of that was punishment for ruining the transmission in the Ford and the other was added punishment by not allowing me to convert the Chevy. I eventually ended up giving all the transmission parts away to a friend who had a 54 Chevy convertible and he converted it from and automatic to a standard. I even helped him as they did the conversion down at Roots Garage, a Shell station and repair shop on Main Street. As I think about it today I don’t recall ever getting any money for those parts!

Around this time, my father told me about a car that was available in Wells Village. It was a 1954 Ford Custom and the right rear quarter panel and door was caved in from an accident. Apparently, the owners “gave” the car to my father and we brought it home. Using that hacksaw again, we cut out the damaged metal and enlisted my cousin John to see if he could find a replacement quarter panel from his farming buddies in Hebron. As luck would have it, a local kid who lived on his parent’s farm up the street from my cousin had a 53 Ford in one of their fields. We drove up and with a cutting torch, made off with a serviceable rear quarter. I paid Nate Richling $15 for that part!  Everybody was happy. Once arrive at home, I asked my buddy Jimmy Sumner (the same fellow who was in that auto body trade school learning the business) to help us weld in the new metal. That accomplished, I set out to weld in replacement panels for the rest of the car that was rotted away and began preparing the car for paint. I recall I had almost all the body work done except for replacing the rusted out section of the right rear quarter. By this time I was sick of bodywork so off we went to Phoenixville Connecticut, home of Sumner Auto body where my friend Jimmy had an uncle in the business. We ended up painting the car in his shop even though that rear quarter wasn’t finished. I drove that car for a year or more and never did complete the job!

By this time, I was in my senior year and working at Monaco’s. The old 54 Ford was in tough shape as the passenger door would not stay latched and I had it tied with rope. The driver’s window was broken and I used a wooden wedge to keep the window up! I needed a new car in a bad way until one day, Monaco’s took in a 1959 Ford Galaxy in trade. Before I could negotiate with them, they wholesaled it so I ended up telling Charlie Monaco that I wanted the car and borrowed $150 from Jules Carmelo, the shop foreman to buy it! The wholesaler delivered it back to Monaco’s and now I was the proud owner of a 59 Ford with a V-8 engine! It was a Y block 292 with a 2-speed automatic with very

little power. It was also a four door (not the most attractive) but hey, it was much newer and more comfortable. I drove that 59 Ford, my 3^rd car all through my senior year (1966) until spring.

By this time I was getting ready to graduate but not without a few hurdles to overcome. My grades were not all that good but somehow I convinced my parents to allow me to order a “new” car. Since I was working at Monaco’s there was an opportunity for a “deal” on actually ordering a brand new car! While my friends and classmates were buying Pontiac GTO’s and other similar “muscle cars”, I ordered a 1966 Ford Falcon Futura, my 4^th car.

Sport Coupe. Powered with a 289 V-8 and a 4-speed transmission, it was bright red (Rangoon Red) with black bucket seats. It was quite the car. In fact, I took delivery of it before school ended, sometime in April but then disaster struck…the school sent a letter home advising my parents I was in danger of not graduating because I was failing the “current issues” class (a required subject). The new car was immediately impounded and I was told to knuckle down to my studies and be sure I graduated. It must have worked because by June, I was out of danger of failing and ended up graduating with my class!  I also got my bright red Falcon back!

The Falcon was a great car and I made many improvements to make it even greater. Eventually, I changed the carburetor from a 2- barrel carburetor to a 4-barrell. I later added an aluminum intake manifold and Cobra aluminum valve covers, a dual point distributor, tubular headers and dual exhaust. I also replaced the stock floor shift with a Hurst shifter (actually a birthday present from my parents).  The installation of the aluminum intake manifold turned out more labor intensive and expensive than I bargained for. I was in the shop and when working on cars, we had these rubber backed fender covers. They were thick and allowed you to place tools and small parts on top of the fender without rolling off. For some reason, I must have picked up some “cloth” covers and this is what I used when removing the old intake and installing the aluminum. In the process of gluing on the gaskets, the manifold was on the fender cover and it moved around some. When the job was finished and I removed the cover, there were deep scratched all over the top of the right fender!  This was a new car and I was bummed out. The following week, I took the car to Bucks Corners Garage, a local body shop that did most of Monaco’s work. Pete Laneri owned the shop and painted the fender for free! I guess he felt sorry for me for being so stupid! Actually, I wanted to do a lot more to that Falcon but money was tight. The best all around performance thing I did was to change the rear end gear ration from 2:80 to 3:90. While that increased highway RPM, the low-end performance was much better. I also added traction bars as the car had rear leaf springs and wheel hop was a problem off the line. With the 4 barrel card, the high rise intake and the gears, the car performed well in spite of being a 289 with very poor breathing (small valves). I wanted to put in a 289 HiPo camshaft and solid lifters but never did. I eventually sold the car to a fellow named Bernie Bodine who was from Glastonbury but moved to Forest Park in Springfield. My colleague at Monaco’s; John Bona expressed interest in buying the car but as I recall, needed to sell something first before he could raise the money. One night, while having coffee at the “Dog House” Bernie walked in and sees my car in the lot with a “For Sale” sign on it and expressed interest in buying it. He bought the car that night and I delivered it to him within a week or so. John Bona was disappointed but in the end, he wound up with the car anyway as Berne drove it for about a month and decided it was not the car for him. I told John about it and he ended up buying it from Bernie!  John ended up doing some amazing things to it and it became one of the fastest cars in Glastonbury. Around 1969 Ford came out with the Boss 302 Mustang which dad a fantastic breathing engine, much improved over the old “289”. John ordered a short block and matched that up with a crane cam and a set of crane heads. He added some stiff gears, probably 4:56 or maybe even 5:14 but the car was amazing out of the hole. Nothing could touch it and with those Crane heads. The engine could breathe and take advantage of the high RPM.

About this time I was getting pretty chummy with a fellow named John Dillon. John was much older than I and lived in East Hartford. He worked in our parts department and was an old time drag racer. When I met him, he owned a Hi-Po 1965 Mustang. I soon learned that John traded in that car for a special order 1966 Ford Custom with a 427 low profile, medium riser engine. John bought it for racing and ran it in 1966 and 1967 as either “A” stock or “B” factory experimental. It was quick but eventually a couple of things happened that would change John’s life forever. John met this woman and fell in love. He pretty much gave up on drag racing until the girl friend broke up with him. Shortly thereafter, John and another friend went into Monaco’s over the weekend and stripped the Ford of everything. Then they cut out a 12-inch section out of the frame and moved the wheels up. What they created was one of the first “Funny Cars” to be run under the new XS or Experimental Stock “class.  By the time the car was finished and ready to race (1968) the class was discontinued and John ended up racing as “A” altered. The second event to occur was John’s father getting remarried. When that happened, his Dad sold the house that John was living in and John ended up moving in with our family. We finished off the 2nd floor and John became a permanent fixture in the Bednarz household. While that was happening, John and I formed a partnership in the race car. I did the paint and bodywork and he did most everything else including building the engine. Since I needed money for the race car, I sold the Falcon to get out from under a car payment. As a result, I acquired a beautiful 63 Ford convertible that will be pictured a little below.

The race-car is a story within itself as I learn a lot about racing and how to professionally prepare a car for serious racing. If our luck had held, it might have been fun but as you will learn, it ended up heartbreaking. First, the car belonged to John who financed its purchase through a company called Commercial Credit. After a year of racing it as a “stock” car, it was converted as I said into a “funny car”. This required a huge amount of work and an equal amount of cash resources. John put most of the money into the car and I paid for a few important accessories including the parachute used to slow it down after a run (since it only had rear brakes). I would later produce the automatic transmission that we eventually installed after blowing the 3^rd rear end (and ruining the new motor dues to over revving and sucking a sodium cooled exhaust valve). Keep in mind, I was the ”wrench” on this car and my Partner John was the driver; lets face it, it was his car and he was a better driver and much smaller than I. However, there was a Sunday at Connecticut Dragway that I would become the driver for one run and what a ride that turned out to be! Allow me to back up a bit.

All of us were “gear heads” and interested in racing. Yes, a few of us were screwing around with street racing but some were serious about racing and like John, took new cars and converted them into professional racing machines. It took money; lots and lots of money and a few of the more fortunate were able to secure sponsors to help with costs. Another close friend who used to work with us at Monaco’s was a fellow named John Hillman and he too was a racer. John had a 1967 Olds 442 W-30 that was originally his street car until he got serious and built it just for the strip. The car was named “Peacemaker” and it wasn’t long before he and the car enjoyed quite a reputation.

As I said , John used to work at Monaco’s and in Parts alongside John Dillion. There was a slight bit of rivalry between the two as you will soon learn. (more than just sharing the same name!)

Here we are on a late Sunday afternoon at CT Dragway in Colchester Connecticut. Towards the end of the day, the strip management would allow a few “grudge” matches and somehow (to this day I still don’t know how it happened) a match was set up between “Block Buster” and “Peacemaker”; two Glastonbury cars and close friends. Since these two cars were in entirely different classes, they would handicap you by delaying the start of the faster car based on the class record. We were running “A” Altered which has a record of say 10.8 against the 442 which was D Stock running in the low to mid 12’s. So to handicap, Blockbuster would get a start light approximately 1.5 seconds after Peacemaker took off. At the end of the ¼ mile there are three sets of photocell lights; the first and third rows calculate speed and the middle light is the finish line that that captures ET (ELAPSED TIME) The car who reaches the second light wins but you don’t let up on the throttle until passing the 3rd set to get the proper MPH (speed). This becomes important later in the story.

Ok, the match is set up and my partner John tells me I’m driving! Now, I’m not inexperienced with this but I’ve never driven this car before nor had I ever driven a car that was as powerful and fast as Blockbuster. Hillman goes off to prep for the race and meanwhile Dillon is explaining to me what I need to do at “shut down”. The car has minimal brakes so we use a parachute to slow it down. John explains “keep you foot into it until passing the 3rd row of lights. Lift your foot, shift to neutral, hit the kill switch on the motor and pull the chute ripcord. Remember Joe, after pulling the chute, place you hand on the shift lever as vibration tends to move it and it could go back in gear”. I’m also strapped in an air force safety harness, wearing a helmet and ear plus due to the noise. The engine remains off as there is only enough coolant for the actual run so the engine is started at the last minute. Meanwhile, Hillman is letting air out of his slicks to get maximum bite. He does not want to lose this race!

Were about set, the door is closed and I fire up the 500HP 427 Low Profile Side Oiler. The car has zoomie headers and it is loud. I get staged; first one light, then inched forward, the second. I’m ready. Hillman stages and immediately his lights, 4 yellow on the “Christmas tree” start down. Mine haven’t even lit up yet (remember the handicapping). John is off! My light come down and I’m off! John said shift to 2^nd gear at 6,800 RPM. I’m planted in my seat and I can observe Hillman out in front. The shift to second occurs probably at 7,000 and second gear is a kick in the pants. I have one hand on the wheel, one on the shift lever, one eye on the tach and the other eye on the track ahead. The tach hits 6,500 and I shift to 3^rd gear. Now both of my hands are on the wheel and I’m climbing on Hillman, the 427 is really pulling stronger and stronger as it reaches it’s peak power curve where the “cubes” have the advantage . We are neck to neck at the first set of lights. I’m moving fast now, almost 150 mph. As I cross the second set of lights I see I’m ahead by a fender length (I think) and I’m holding full throttle for MPH through the third set of lights. The series of events happening next is still a mystery. I lift the throttle, hit the kill switch and shift to neutral. I think that was my mistake as I probably should have shifter to neutral and then kill the engine. I never pull the chute because suddenly, the car is sideways just past the traps. Smoke if filling the inside. I hang onto the wheel and pray the roll cage John Dillon welded stays together. I cross all lanes from left to right and come to a stop in the grass, upright. As the smoke clears I have the presence of mind to unbuckle the harness and open the car door, standing on the rocker panel so people in the tower could see I’m OK. John Dillon comes up in the tow car and just looks at me probably saying to himself, “what the fuck!” The car is OK except for two flat spots on the rear slicks. Hillman turns his car around on the track and comes back to me. He’s in shock advising me that he looks in his rear view mirror and all he sees is smoke and “Block Buster” and had no idea what the hell I was doing! I’m remarkably calm and remain that way until we get back to the pits. That’s when it hits me and that’s when the shakes began. I’m OK and eventually we get the car on the trailer and head home to the TyRods Car Club in Rockville, our home base.

What we “think” happened is vibration moved the sift lever back in gear and there was sufficient hydraulic pressure in the torque converter/front pump to kick it back in gear. Since the motor is now dead, the rear tires lock up (sort of like downshifting at high speed) and the “Detroit locker” rear axle throws the car sideways. There is no damage to the car or the engine but I’m not looking forward to repeating this! Many years later I learned an interesting thing from a fellow racer and eventually, would become one of the owners of the strip. His name is Art Ruggerio and he was standing at the finish line and observed my run. According to him, there was significant daylight under two tires when it went sideways. I could have gone over so the good Lord was watching over me that day.

Now, there is a postscript to this story....remember during the preparation for the race, Hillman is adjusting his tires? Well he normally runs 4lbs but for this race he dropped it to 3.5 lbs pressure. These are special wrinkle wall slick but at low tire pressure, the car can get squirrely, especially at the shift points. Well, the following weekend, Hillman is at his military summer camp and he’s asked me to drive his car, the Peacemaker” th e next weekend as he was in the running for a year end trophy and money. I agreed and happy that John thought highly of me to trust me with his car. The following weekend we prep the Peacemaker for towing on the tow bar to my convertible, Dillon agrees to help me and we leave Blockbuster at home. Pulling out of the driveway, one of the lift bars on the axle breaks loose. What to do?  I drive to my cousins farm as his father is a welder. Within an hour, we are off to Ct Dragway having Cousin Ed welded the bar back in place.

We arrive at the track, go through inspection. I mount the tires and we go up the ramp for a time trial. I stage the car and the lights come down. I don’t even know who I’m racing against because it doesn’t count; it’s just a time trial. The 442 come out the hole like a shot and I slam second gear. This is a four speed and I was always a good shifter. With the low tire pressure from last week, the car goes squirrely and I let off the gas. I’m shaking. I get back to the pits and tell Dillon I can’t drive it. I’m too scared and almost lose control. Others come up to me, friends of Hillman and ask what was wrong. Many observed what happened last week but probably didn’t know I was driving Block Buster. One of John’s friends, Dennis Kasavage give me reassurance. Tells me to add a couple pounds of air and make another run. I do so and handle it well. I guess there is some truth to “getting back on the horse”. I turn in a good time from the time trial and decide to wait for the first eliminations. I beat the guy in the first round as well as the second. For the third and final round, I’m paired against Dennis Kasavage! He’s the one who encouraged me to race and my hairy first run. He misses a shift and I win! John’s car remains in the hunt. I collect his winnings and head home.

Car number five was a 1963 Ford Galaxy 500KL convertible. It has a 390 with an

automatic and bucket seats. It was high luxury for me and it also made a great tow car to the “Block Buster” which is the name of the race car I was partners with. I bought the car from Karl Sartoris, another colleague from Monaco’s. Karl took excellent care of this car so I knew I was getting a good vehicle.  As I remember, I paid him $1,000 for it and thee only thing I ever did to it was add a class C trailer hitch and air shocks for towing. The car was clean and like many of my previous cars, I wish I had it back! Eventually though, the racing ended as John found another girl friend and went from driving a Monaco used car off the lot to home every night to his own Ford XL convertible (1968). I was about to get back into car payments again as you will soon see.

It was now fall of 1968 and I had joined the Army Reserve. Racing was done and early that fall, when the 1969 Fords came out, I ordered a 1969 Ford Galaxies 500 XL convertible. This made car #6 for me.

It was bronze in color, with a black top and white interior. It was luxurious and even had a factory installed 8-track tape. I took delivery in the late fall and certainly, it wasn’t “top down” weather in New England. In February, I decided to take a vacation and drove to Florida.  I had my new car and I was on the open road, following in the footsteps of my parents.  I drove straight through and reach Florida in about 24 hours. I will never forget putting the top down for the first time!  What an experience!

Since I was traveling alone, I decided to bring with me, some added protection in the form of a Colt .45 automatic. I even assemble some sheet metal painted the same color of the car to place beneath the seat to cover over the gun. I figured sine I was driving all alone into strange territory, better to be safe than sorry. I was already a handgun permit holder so I rationalized I was doing something that would ordinarily be done in my home state. Needless to say, I made the 2,000+ mile round trip without incident.

The 69 XL was an OK car, not great, just OK. In reality, the 63 XL was a much better car.  However, I drove the 69 all through the winter and into the summer. By this time, my tour of active duty was looming in front of me and I once again decided to sell the car so I wouldn’t be faced with car payments while I was away in the army.  A fellow who used to stop by Monaco’s to chat helped me out. His name was George Plank and he found a friend that was interested in buying my car. I sold it in the spring of 1969. By this time, I had been in the Army Reserve some 6 months and I’d yet been called to active duty.  Another fellow in or parts department had a 1963 Ford hardtop that I picked up for $35. I fixed what was wrong and had this “beater” to drive while I awaited my orders to active duty. That was car #7. This is actually the color of mine but is not my specific car.

In the late summer of 1969 Ford announced a new line of muscle cars based on the Fairlane frame. The created a 1970 Ford Torino Super Cobra Jet with a 429 engine, laser stripes and a 4-speed.  This was my car! So, despite not having been on active duty and no longer owning a new car, I decided to order one. I placed an order for a light blue 429 Super Cobra Jet with a 4-speed. In October, the car came in. However, something else came in…my orders to active duty. I was to report to Fort Bliss Texas at the end of October. As luck would have it, when the car came in, it was wrong. It was a 429 SCJ but with an automatic, not a 4-speed. Monaco’s said, no problem, they would place the car in inventory. A few weeks later, a former classmate of mine, Nick Ferrivanti bought the car. It was sharp, but still a “slush-box”. My “would be” car # 8 went to somebody else.

I was on active duty for the full 6-month with my last assignment at Fort Sill, OK.  When I arrived there it was March and I was due to be released in April. I was still in touch with Monaco’s and I learned of the new 1970 Mustang Boss 302’s just coming out.  They were sharp so I decided to order one in time so it would be ready when I returned home. This was car# 8 and it was a Calypso Coral (Orange) Boss 302 with white interior and a 4-speed.

I added a shaker hood and installed a Sig Ericson camshaft.  It was a nice car and while Ford fixed the breathing problems that plagued the early 289, they went overboard on the Boss 302. It was a great engine but had too much breathing; it didn’t “come on” to about 5,000 rpm. It made a great road handling car but a lousy car for drag racing which was still my passion (on the street). I drove that Mustang all through the summer of 1970 and ended up selling it to Billy Leonard in the fall of 1970. Once again, to be free of monthly car payments. (They’re seems to be a pattern here!)

The replacement or car #9 turned out to be a 1967 Chevrolet Impala Convertible. It had a 283 engine and a 4-speed and was a trade in at Monaco’s.

 I sold the Mustang and bought the convertible with cash.  This is the second time I sold new cars only to buy used convertibles. I drove it through the winter and in the spring of 1971; I left Monaco’s to work at AAA.

Prior to leaving Monaco’s I was into racing cars and working on local hot rods. One day the manager of the Acme Auto Supply store across from Monaco’s approached me for a favor. His his machine shop had built up a Chevy 350 engine for a local fellow who put down a deposit but failed to come up with the cash so the engine sat on a stand in the parts store. It was later sold to a classmate of mine; Glenn who commissioned my old friend, Tommy Stino to install in Glenn’s 1965 Corvette. Well, Tommy did the install but no matter what they did, they could not get the engine to idle below 1,500 RPM without it shaking you out of the car. Someone suggested it was a vacuum leak and Jimmy, the manager who was frustrated with Tommy’s inability to fix it asked me to intervene. Not being a “Chevy” person, I was a bit reluctant but told him I would give it a shot. The car was driven to my father’s two-car garage and I began to take it apart. I was not convinced it was a vacuum leak but followed his instructions and replaced the aluminum intake manifold. As I suspected, it continued to run poorly and after playing around with the timing I began to suspect something else. Another condition that produces low vacuum (which is why everyone was convinced it had a bad manifold) was incorrect valve lash or “tight valves”. This engine was equipped with hydraulic valve lifters which were “self adjusting” so the possibility seemed remote. However, when I loosened up all the rocker arms and thereby loosening up the valves, the engine ran perfectly! So, Here’s what I figured what happened; the engine was built as a “go fast” motor. One of the tricks that shops will do is mill the cylinder heads to increase the compression ratio of the engine and produce more power. By milling the heads and making them thinner, they threw off the valve geometry which produced tight valves. Poor Tommy had no idea this was done which is why he was unable to get to run right. Problem solved and Glenn, the owner was ecstatic and paid me handsomely. We became friends and I ended up continuing to do much of the maintenance on the car. A year or so later, Glenn decided to turn the car into a show piece and had the body completely re-done and customized along with a custom interior by Rae’s Auto Trim and Transmission Perl paint by Woody. Even though the engine from Acme was just a year old, he wanted new so I agreed to install a factory new “350” for him direct from a local Chevy dealer. I did that project at home and took my time. After finishing it, Glenn allowed me to keep the car and drive it around a bit which I did for almost a month. I spent so much time in that Corvette, people said I should own one myself! So, I began to search for one of my own.

My first Corvette, a 1966 roadster was purchased the Corvette Center in Bolton from the grand sum of $750. It was a complete wreck and was missing body and interior parts as well as the complete power train.  The car was owned by a fellow in Hartford and was stolen from his driveway and driven to the north meadows of Hartford where it was stripped.  I borrowed Monaco’s wrecker and towed hit home, telling my father that a guy “gave it” to me. I never had the heart to tell him I actually paid cash money for what appeared to be a pile of junk! All through the winter of 1970 and spring of 1971, I worked on this Corvette in my garage at home. Since the garage wasn’t heated, I invested in a kerosene “space heater” called a salamander which resembles a jet turbine and when in operation, smells and sounds like one too. It kept that garage plenty warm but in the process, burned up much of the oxygen from the air. You also needed to put up with the kerosene stink

I worked on that Corvette almost every night, gluing in fiberglass pieces and shaping the fender wells using a custom design called “flares”.

I also designed a front spoiler using fiberglass from the old, broken hood.

Throughout the winter I scrounged parts and worked on the body. As it got warmer, I was able to build an engine using the block I salvaged from another Corvette.

Wally Pettengill, a co-worker from Monaco’s gave me a forged crankshaft and a Weber aluminum flywheel, clutch and pressure plate. Dick Pidemonte, also from Monaco’s came up with a 1963 Corvette fuel injection system.

 Over time, I amassed quite a few parts so by spring, the car was assembled and actually drivable although it had no windshield. I installed Corvette factory side exhaust and one friend provided me with an exhaust cover. Even when the car was finished and I sold it, I never did get around to buying an exhaust cover for the left side and constantly burned the skin on my legs getting out of that Corvette!

Once the car was drivable and most of the bodywork finished, I brought it down to Heritage Auto body. Heritage was owned by two friends of mine and was located in Monaco’s building on the second floor. Jim Starr and Don Kilgore were kind enough to allow me to finish the car in their shop. Soon, it became time to pick a color. The base color would be blue and the final color, a blue and purple Metelflake.

Ever since I began attending car shows, I always wanted a metal flake car!  The materials were expensive but before long, the Corvette was painted metal flake and had 30 coats of Limco clear on top! When initially painted, the car looked like it had a serious orange peel effect. That was due to the fact the car needed to be wet sanded and buffed with a rubbing compound. After waited a month for the paint to cure, I brought it back inside and with the help of Richie Cavanaugh, the painter from Bucks Corners Garage, we sanded and buffed it out. It came out beautiful. The color looked like it was a foot deep and the “Blue Indigo” scheme was fabulous.  The Corvette was car #10.

My biggest regret with the restoration of this Corvette is that once finished including Cragar wheels and plexiglass headlight covers (now standard on the 2005 Corvette!), I never took a picture! What you see above the closest I’ve got.

By the time the paint was finished, the interior was ready to be installed. I had taken the door panels and seats to Dave Delasandro in Manchester for some custom work. He used a “diamond” stitching design using Naugahyde.

It came out very nice. I also purchased some GM interior paint and refinished the vinyl trim. When finished and with new carpet, the inside was cherry. Prior to paining the car, I located a removable hard top for the car. I bought it from a young lady on Evergreen Ave in Hartford. Her roommate owned the Corvette and took off for California, leaving the top in the cellar. I paid her $110 and hauled it home. Today, that top alone would be worth a small fortune!

So the Corvette was 90% finished and drivable. However, I could not afford insurance on it! The car sat in my garage with just occasional trips around town. In the meantime, I had decided to leave Monaco’s and go to work for AAA as an assistant in the Road Service department.  I was driving the Chevy Impala convertible and the Corvette was in the garage. I started work in April of 1971 and somewhere around the early fall; I began to get an itch for another “new car”. I was thinking about a Chevrolet Chevelle and looked at one a Dworin Chevrolet in East Hartford. I was undecided. I drove home and sat down to talk it over with my Mother. She advised me to stop in a Monaco’s and see what they had. The next night, I drove to Monaco’s showroom and ran into Don Gondek, one of their salesmen. He had a 1972 Grand Torino demo and suggested I look at that. It was mustard yellow with a cloth “hounds tooth” interior. I took it for a ride and it was very smooth. A few days later, it was mine. I needed some money so Mom suggested I approach my Grandfather for a loan. He agreed and loaned me a thousand. With what I had saved up, the trade in value of the Chevy Convertible, I was able to buy the car. The Grand Torino was car #11.

I began work at AAA in April of 1971 as Assistant Director, Emergency Road Service. My immediate boss was a fellow from Glastonbury name H. E. Moore. Actually he went by “Al”  or “Mr. Moore”. Al was given a company car, a 71 or 72 AMC Rambler station wagon. In 1973 he was allowed to lease a replacement car and selected a 1973 Chevrolet Kingwood Station Wagon. We name it “Goldilocks” as is was a stripped down version and gold in color. It was a real “beast” but it had lots of room to carry around tires and batteries (that we sold to garages) and other AAA promotional materials like signs, stickers and ERS tickets. On March 23rd in 1973 Al left the company and I was promoted to ERS manager complete with  “Goldilocks” so car #11 was actually a lease car belonging to Colonial Leasing and leased to the Automobile Club of Hartford. In the meantime, I had to repay my Grandfather, the money I borrowed for the Torino. I decided to sell the Corvette. A big, big mistake but who knew what these cars were going to be worth! I needed cash fast to I ended up selling it back to Bill Bartenstein at the Corvette Center where I purchased it as a wreck. I won’t tell you what I got for it; we would all be crying! The only thing I do take into consideration, that 66 was a “bastardized child” being customized with flared wheels, spoiler, “frenched” headlights and Metelflake paint and an early fuel injection. It’s value would only be to a special person who want such a car. Stripping off that metalflake would have been a herculean task.

In 1974 I was allowed to lease my own car and I selected a 1974 Ford Torino Station Wagon. AAA was big on station wagons as they served as a way to haul mail and other materials around to the office and to our contract garages. The Torino was white with wood trim and it ran great. The field representative, who worked for me, drove a Chevrolet window van all lettered up with AAA logos as this was our contractor service vehicle and it hauled materials as well as tire and battery samples to show to our contractors. Mel Hanson was the representative and he took excellent care of that truck. This was car #12.

Sometime in 1975 AAA was being pressured to add a standard shift car to their driving school fleet as more and more imports were coming equipped with standard transmissions. While they were unable to justify another vehicle, they approached me to see if I would give my Torino to Mel and he would use that as a field rep car. I was then directed to lease a standard shift car that would be used as a back-up driver education car for those who wanted a lesson in a standard car. Since we needed a car fast, we leased a 1976 Mercury Zephyr sedan right off the lot at Moriarty Brothers in Manchester. That made car # 13. What was interesting was the fact few, if any actually took lessons in that car!

Around that same time, the President of AAA leased a two-door Ford Grand Torino, loaded. It was full power with stereo and electric windows, the works! Most of our lease cars were 4-door sedans or station wagons so this was the first “sporty car” leased by AAA. Dick Robinson drove that car for about 8 months until enough of his friends called it a “kids” car so he decided it was time to unload it. Around that same time, Dick became interested in buying a travel trailer so it was a combination of the trailer and the fact he was driving a kids cars that I was again asked to take over another company car. I was thrilled as it was a great car, sharp looking and loaded. That Grand Torino made car #14 for me! By the way, Dick leased a loaded Mercury Marquis Brougham (a Lincoln in Mercury clothes!) that towed his 30’ trailer with ease.

We were now into 1978 and the fuel crisis was in full swing. Contractors were always a problem and we had taken over doing some of our own light service calls with a compact Chevrolet “Luv” Truck. I got the bright idea of leasing a couple of Ford Explorer pickup trucks as combination service vehicles and company transportation. These trucks were actually made by Mazda with the Ford logos on them and I actually drove that for a about 6 months until we lost another contractor and we needed to put these trucks on the road full time running light service calls. That truck would make this car #15 for a short time.

Car number #16 and #17 were unique purchases and were obtained close together. #16 was a 1971 Chevrolet Estate wagon that I picked up for $25 from a former employee.  I needed a car to tow my camper and the new Ford pick-ups were too weak. I was also towing a boat so the used Chevy wagon was ideal. I fixed the exhaust problem and after that, never put a dime into it! One day, while the car was parked in the street, my neighbor hit it backing out of his driveway. The insurance company paid me $250 to fix it (which I never did) and later I sold it in the same condition for $150. I made money on that car!

Car #17 was another unique purchase. I still had the boat and camper and needed a tow vehicle. Every so often, the State would auction off the old police cruisers but this time, they tried using a sealed bid process and a fellow at work that also worked for the State as the auctioneer gave me a tip. He said to go and inspect the cars and pick out what I wanted. He then gave me the sealed bid forms and told me to use low prices ending in an odd number. I bid $251 for a 1976 Ford LTD 460 police cruiser. All it needed was a plug wire to correct a skipping cylinder and what they thought was an expensive valve job turned out to be something simple. I drove that car for a couple of years until we purchased some property in upstate New York and no longer needed a tow vehicle. I eventually had a friend, Gerry MacDonald sell the car for me on his lot. It brought $1,100!  I made money on that one too!

About that time, driver's education was again looking for a standard shift car again and I order a Chevrolet Citation. This was a new vehicle in 1980 and an entirely new design. It was a 4 cylinders or V-6 and front wheel drive. Mine was dark blue and a hatchback design so it served us almost like a station wagon. The Citation made car #18 and would last me two full years.

My 19th car would be another Chevrolet Citation in 1982. This one was white. I drove that for two years.

In 1984 I ordered a Chevrolet Celebrity. This one was black and pretty sharp although it was not loaded. That made car #20 and I drove it for about a year or so before turning it over to drivers Ed again. Around this time we had reorganization and I was promoted to become a “Director”. It was the same as a VP but without the title. I was then authorized to order 4 new cars for my fellow “directors” and the President. For the directors, we ordered Buick LeSabres. The President got a Park Avenue! The Buick was car # 21 but it was a piece of junk. The transmission went bad and the door handles would fly off if you closed the door too hard!

In 1986 I had become separated from my first wife and living alone in my condo in Manchester. I was also a member of the West Hartford Rotary and one day, decided to play golf with another Rotarian, Al Toback. Al showed up at the course with a red 1984 Corvette.  He took me for a spin and I was hooked again.  A week later, I was looking for 1984 Corvettes!  About this same time, I was negotiating with Chemical Bank in NY to develop an AAA Member Loan program. While the deal was not finished, I asked if I might get a car loan at a favorable rate. No problem, they sent me a check for $18,000, which is exactly what I paid for car # 22, a 1984 Corvette, white with red leather but sadly, with an automatic transmission and cross-fire injection.

Had I done my usual pre-purchase research, I would have waited for the 1985 version with a standard transmission and tuned port.  Well it’s my second Corvette and bought to help satisfy my mid-life crisis and a divorce!

In 1989, the old President retired and we hired an executive from our National Office, Hal Doran to replace him. Hal, as part of a cost cutting move decided we would lease our cars for three years rather than two so car #23 was a 1989 Pontiac Bonneville which I drove until 1992 when I replaced it with another Bonneville. Pontiac came out with a version called the SSEI that in addition to a bunch of moldings and spoiler trim, came with a 220hp supercharged engine. I discovered I could order the car in normal trim but still get the SSEI supercharged engine so that is what I did and ordered a green 4 door as car #24.

In 1995 I replaced that Bonneville with car number #25, another Bonneville, but this time, a full blooded SSEI complete with the SSEI trim and spoilers. Instead of green I picked white with gold accents.

In 1992 or thereabouts, I was needing a 4-wheel drive vehicle to access my remote property in upstate New York. My first truck was an old International pick up that I registered with temporary plates just to get it to the house. From that point on, it remained on the property as a “snow plow” and logging truck. However, I was still looking for something that I could get cheap and register in NY. One of my Army Reserve buddies had a full sixe GMC Blazer. I ended up buying that, adding headers and new exhaust, welding in new sheet metal and paining the vehicle black. That car remained in NY and I kept it a few years before selling it to a local kid who loved the wheels and exhaust. The next 4-wheel drive came from my good friend, Mike Bourgoin (AKA Mike Alan, the WTIC Traffic Reporter). He had an 86 GMC Jimmy (S-10) and was trading it for a new truck. I gave him the trade in value and took it home knowing that at some point I was needing to replace the engine as it was leaking and had 100,000 miles. The car was in great shape in terms of eye appeal and many people thought it was new. I ended up installing a new GM Target motor and overhauling the R700 transmission (my first Auto trans overhaul in 15 years!) right in my two-car garage at the condominium.

In 1995 SUV’s were becoming popular and I asked if I could order a Ford Explorer but the idea was rejected as we were allowed to get only cars. Then in 1999 I was to order car #27 as the Pontiac had such low mileage; I actually drove it for 4 years and saved the company considerable money. In 1999, our President, Hal decided to order a “foreign” car for himself and picked up a Volvo followed a few years later by an Audi A-6. Since he had a foreign car, he allowed us to get our SUV’s if we so desired. After looking at Jeep Cherokees and test driving both the Cherokee and the new Dodge Durango, I settled on a silver Durango for number 28.  Great SUV; powerful and smooth. I drove that until 2001 when the merger with another company caused me to lose my company vehicle. As a way to soften the impact, they allowed me to keep my Durango. Since another colleague who was continuing his company car and upgrading to a new Jeep, we traded in my Durango and I took over his 1999 Jeep Cherokee with only 19,000 miles. This made it car #29.

When Maria and I were married in 1995, she owned a Nissan Maxima. It was a great car despite being a “salvage” car she bought from a friend in New Britain. However, Maria was always partial to Mercedes so for Christmas of 2001, I purchased her a 2001 Mercedes ML320 SUV. It was our first Mercedes and that made it car #30 even though it’s actually Maria’s car! I told her Merry Christmas ( and Happy New Year, Happy Birthday…2001, 2002, 2003……) Meanwhile, I’m driving the Jeep and asking myself why we have two SUV’s? In 2002, I decided upon my second Mercedes; a 1997 Mercedes C-280 sedan that I would drive as car #31. It was a decent car but I was going through radiation treatments for cancer and for some reason, the leather smell of the car turned me off. I drove the C-280 until the spring of 2003 when I traded it for my third Mercedes, a 1999 E 320 4Matic. Car # 32! I drove the E320 until the fall of 2010 when I traded it for a beautiful 2008 Mercedes E350; car #33.

I have to be honest and admit there are two new car purchases that have not been disclosed. They are what I call “pure impulse buy’s” that I gave little thought to but acted upon impulse because I wasn’t thinking straight. OK, in 2005 gas prices were running around $1.30 down for $1.70 and all things were pointing to price stability. The in the middle of summer, prices shot up to $1.60 and people we saying it was heading to $2-$3 or more. I was tired of paying higher and higher prices so I decided to go from Luxury to economy in one fell swoop. I decided upon a new 2006 Honda Civic Hybrid that all the reports were claiming this was a 51 MPG car. The problem was, it was new and in high demand. Dealers were offering these cars of $1,000 over sticker! Through some connection, I was introduced to a dealer who agreed to sell it to me for LIST price! I drove the car for 6 months and never could get the mileage past 41mpg. It was also a dog. The only good thing was the navigation system. Around that time we were trailer boating so I decided to trade the 06 Hybrid for a new 07 Honda Ridgeline. Six months after getting the Ridgeline, we bought a new, bigger boat and the Ridgeline could not handle the towing. I ended up exporting that truck to Russia and because of the exchange rate, I got nearly what I paid for it!

Actually, the Mercedes is car #36 because in 2010 Maria celebrated her 50th birthday and to commemorate that historic event, I bought her a 2009 Mustang Convertible in Grabber Orange!

I probably would have ordered Maria a brand new Mustang but unfortunately, she was hooked on that color and Ford discontinued it in 2010. The Mustang is really sharp and Maria enjoys tooling around town with the top down (and even I enjoy taking it for an occasional spin!)

The old 84 Corvette remains in storage and drive on rare occasion during the summer while the Mercedes SUV is kept as a winter car and to haul materials around for the sailboat. I drive the E-350 and Maria, the Mustang so for now, the Bednarz fleet is at four

vehicles (at least 4-wheeled as we don’t count the scooters and motorcycle). Someday, I would love to upgrade the Corvette to the new model and I’m particular to the yellow convertible with a standard transmission but that will have to wait.

I had always believed that Mercedes are cars that we so well designed and engineered, they lasted forever or at least 250,000 which it is what my brother-in-law is getting on his Honda’s and Toyota’s! I think the older Mercedes did but the newer versions can be a challenge. I’m  driving this E-Class and one day, the transmission starts acting funny. It felt just like a stuck governor (remember, I’m an old Ford Transmission man!). I take it back to the dealer where I purchased it and discover it needs a “shift plate”. That a simple term for what is essentially the valve body in the transmission; a component in the old days we cleaned but rarely replaced unless the transmission had a converter failure and contaminated the system with metal pieces. Anyway, the cost was $2,000 to repair and all of a sudden, I start looking at the mileage (52,000) and the fact I stilled owed 3 years on this beast, I decided I’d had enough of Mercedes. ( Besides, when you have two Mercedes sitting in the driveway, the neighbors figure you are either rich or running drugs! So here come car #37 a 2011 Lexus ES350 purchased from CarMax with all of 4k on the odometer!

The ML320 stated to give us trouble and we really need a winter car. Back to CarMax about 9 months later and we purchase car #38, a 2012 Nissan Rouge, a crossover AWD vehicle that Maria drives in the winter when the Mustang gets stored away. So now I’m making two car payments each month.

If you are keeping count you have figured out we now have a Lexus and Nissan in the driveway, a 2009 Mustang Convertible and 84 Corvette in winter storage. That’s four cars for two drivers! Life is good but were not quite done yet. Below is what is sitting in storage waiting fro the warm weather. Hopefully it replaces the 84 once I find a buyer in the spring.

Yep, another CarMax deal, a 2005 convertible, six speed, 400hp with 22k on the clock. Lucky number #39!