I remember the madras shirts and pegged pants in the mid 60's group. We also had the greasers guys with the hot rod cars. I was a greaser had my 56 chevy hot rod 2dr, 327 engine, Hurst floor shifter, slick back hair, lucky strikes rolled in my white T shirt sleeve, pegged pants, black pointy shoes --had a name for they won't post not PC something fence climbers. Look at old pictures and laugh --what was I thinking --Uncle Sam's draft straightened me out
I had a 1960, Black and White topped, Plymouth Station Wagon, three on the tree, manual choke and a slant 6 engine. A real chick magnet! When you went to a gas station you filled it up with oil and checked the gas. It did have cool fins and a rectangular steering wheel so I had that going for me. Plus I was pretty much the only Junior in HS with a car, so that helped. Combine that with the Madras shirts, pegged pants and penny loafers and you have a bonified 00 spy persona. At least in my mind! The draft had a profound affect on all of us. I missed out on all the cool late 60's stuff like long hair, etc. but 2 years after I was discharged, I grew a full beard and I have had it ever since. Talk about your rebel!!
By the time that I graduated from HS I had upgraded to a 1961, canary yellow, Buick Skylark, convertible. Automatic, V-6, retched, Aluminum block engine and the top had to be put up and down manually. Started College with a Black, VW Beetle. I don't remember what year it was but whatever it was it had the manifold heater that left your right leg with blisters and the rest of you frozen. In the winter, in Vermont, you had to carry your windshield scrapper up front, inside to clean the frost off as you drove along because if it had a windshield defroster it was useless. By graduation from College I had a 1962 Chevy Impala, Automatic with 283 V-8. Actually loved that car but while attending Tech school in Denver, they were sending people almost exclusively to Europe, for some reason, and it was being sorted out, there would be three going overseas and one staying stateside and the flight just before me stayed in the states. In the meantime a friend of my Father's asked my dad if I was willing to sell it. Since I was sure that I was going overseas I said yes. Two weeks later I got my orders for Niagara Falls, NY and had to buy a car that had been sitting in a farmers yard for two years because it skipped badly and no one could figure out why. It was, a straight six. We jumped the battery and it fired up, skipping wildly, but started immediately. It was also a 1962 and when we got it home we took the valve cover off and one of the rocker arms had become loose. We put the rocker arm adjuster nut back on, finger tight and like magic the skipping stopped. Cars were so much simpler back then. Eight months later I got orders to Bien Hoa, Vietnam and just sold it before I left. Except for the Impala I wasn't overly enamored by any of the others.
