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Posted by: oakdalecurtis Jul 24 2016, 06:55 PM

When I was in High School, I started dating my wife of 39 years. My car was a Ford Pinto, and even then we called it the "blow up car", knowing that if we were ever rear ended, the cars were known to become roman candles. I was mowing my neighbor's lawn one afternoon, and he approached me and asked if I was going to the school prom soon with my girlfriend. When I told him I was, he informed me that it just wasn't right to take her on this big date in a Pinto. He had just purchased a new silver 914 and he offered it to me to use to take her to the dance! I couldn't believe it, and neither could she when I pulled up in this little racy Porsche to take her out for the big night!. My generous neighbor continued to let me use the 914 whenever I had a significant date night, and I will be forever grateful to him. After we were married, my wife and I always said that whenever we had a little extra coin someday, we would pick up a 914. We finally made it financially, and my wife and son went out and bought a nice yellow one and surprised me with it! When I told my friends that my wife bought my 914 for me, they asked where they could get one. I said "A car like this?". And they said "No, we can get the car anywhere, we want to know where to get a wife that will buy us a sports car!". Good luck, she's pretty special. I'm not so sure I would lend out my 914 today to some punk 16 year old kid like I was then! My neighbor was one of my heroes!

Posted by: jrblackbox Jul 24 2016, 07:11 PM

Sweet!!

Posted by: 914Sixer Jul 24 2016, 07:18 PM

The good ole days when life was simple. Seems you have been blessed.

Posted by: Larmo63 Jul 24 2016, 07:46 PM

Cool story. I probably couldn't have been trusted to not race the piss out of it as soon as I drove it around the corner.

Posted by: whitetwinturbo Jul 24 2016, 09:23 PM

your wife......

Posted by: JRust Jul 24 2016, 10:09 PM

She's a keeper for sure. Congrats on finally fulfilling that dream. . Good to have you

Posted by: Dave_Darling Jul 24 2016, 10:40 PM

Awesome neighbor. Awesome wife. Awesome story!

--DD

Posted by: napasteve Jul 24 2016, 10:51 PM

Curtis, that's a great story. Thanks for sharing.

Posted by: RobW Jul 24 2016, 11:15 PM

Special indeed. I pass through Oakdale every now and then and will keep an eye open for you!

Posted by: green914 Jul 25 2016, 10:21 AM

Great story! Your wife is a keeper for sure.

Posted by: Kansas 914 Jul 25 2016, 11:39 AM

Thanks for sharing - great story.

Posted by: dlkawashima Jul 25 2016, 12:09 PM

Posted by: oakdalecurtis Jul 25 2016, 01:22 PM

I appreciate all your kind comments, just thought I'd show you why I stay happily married to her!

Posted by: Tom_T Jul 25 2016, 01:27 PM

Great story Curtis!

I wasn't so lucky as to have a neighbor lend me a nice car of any type for Senior Prom, etc., but was glad to at least have my own car - a used `68 Opel Kadett B 2DR Notchback Coupe which I'd saved up for & bought a few months earlier, in Fall `69.

As a former Pinto owner, you may appreciate another sort of "rear ending" problem which a couple of female cousins of a friend "ran into" in Texas decades ago.

Apparently the gals were driving on a country 2-laner through soem open Texas ranch land & had forgotten to check the fuel level before going off the main roads with stations miles back. So they sat parked on the side of the road waiting for some friendly rancher to come by to assist them.

Apparently one of the larger Bulls in the nearby range spotted the Pinto, & took a liking to it, coming over, "mounting it" from the rear & having his way with the poor disabled Pinto!

The gals were scared s-less & stayed in the car windows up, for hours in the sweltering heat, until a friendly neighbor drove up in a pick-em-up truck to help them out, & asked them what the problem was & why they had their winders up!!??

The gals explained - & after a half hour or so of rolling on the ground in raucus gut-splitting laughter, the fellow took them both to get enough gas to get them back to the nearest station.

Of course when then finally got to their relatives' ranch, they got similar reactions, as well as the expected run of jokes, including my favorite: "that ".... the Bull's buddies must've put him up to it, that he couldn't possibly mate with a Filly!"

They & their whole family get a huge kick out of that story decades later.

I've never met my friend's cousins, but would love to hear their story first hand, then use that & a few other choice ones to "liven up the party"!

Get yourselves involved in the Bay Area 914 crowd & PCA gatherings, events & drives, so you can enjoy your new toy with others of like mind. I think they still do a 914 breakfast gathering from time to time, & you'll see them announced on here.



Cheers!
Tom
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Posted by: Tom_T Jul 25 2016, 01:29 PM

Yeah, & she's definitely sending you a warning message about your "sensitive parts" with her right hand, if you don't ..... aside from the weapon!


Tom
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Posted by: Maltese Falcon Jul 25 2016, 01:45 PM

Never seen a Saltine with a 223 through it , that's what I call proper gun control
You don't need to hear my whole story on getting hooked on 914 ...just a bitchin car to buy (new) in 1974, and modify for the next 42 years
Marty

Posted by: oakdalecurtis Jul 25 2016, 03:05 PM

Hey Tom, I wondered if anyone would make that connection! Didn't take long.
And Marty, that's just a Ruger SR22, not a .223. If the crackers have any moisture in them, they don't break. But Annie is a crack shot, pity the fool that puts her to the test! java script:emoticon(':shoot2kill:','smid_48')

Posted by: Mblizzard Jul 25 2016, 04:43 PM

I was 24 hours later for my first date with my wife of 23-years because my 914 broke down. I figured this was the type of ass kicking you shouldn't "phone in" so I went to explain in person.

Well that 914 went away and after 20 years of marriage she let me buy another 914 and spend way more money on it than it will ever be worth. Oh did I mention she is a good shot as well?

Posted by: Tom_T Jul 25 2016, 05:38 PM

Curtis,

We're all basically "warped" to be into 914s & want to hang onto them for 41+ years, so it wasn't a huge leap!

Now we're all wondering if she's named after Annie Oakly, being a cracker shot!?

Tell Annie the Pinto story, she'll probably get a giggle out of it too!


Tom
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Posted by: oakdalecurtis Jul 25 2016, 06:19 PM

Not named after Annie Oakley, but I taught her to shoot and her eyes are better than mine, good student! She knows all my stories inside and out, was involved with most of them! She said once that she never got in trouble till she started dating me.

Posted by: Tom_T Jul 25 2016, 09:07 PM

No Curtis, I meant to tell her my Pinto story above, about my friend's 2 gal cousins & the bull, you silly bunt!

I assume she's like my wife of 31 years, who has heard all of my stories several times over ... as have my 2 kids for that matter .... & they all just roll their eyes every time I tell one again to somebody!

(If you're a Monty Python fan, you'll know the "silly bunt" phrase.)


Tom
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Posted by: oakdalecurtis Jul 25 2016, 09:59 PM

Sorry Tom, wasn't paying attention well enough to your post, my bad. I just read your bull f***ing Pinto story to her n she was glad it wasn't us! We grew up in Fullerton, Sunny Hills High! It was orange groves and open space, can't live down there anymore! We're country. Ty

Posted by: JamesM Jul 26 2016, 03:57 PM

Is it just me, or is anyone else thinking this prom car needs to be found?

Posted by: oakdalecurtis Jul 26 2016, 04:03 PM

The owner died a dozen years ago, Mr. Russell Raines in Sunny Hills, Fullerton, CA. It was a silver 914, must have been about a 72 or 73 I think, anyone?

Posted by: Tom_T Jul 26 2016, 04:13 PM

Glad she enjoyed it!

So your neighbor was a Fullerton 914 owner! I was thinking it was up there.

I have friends from Sunny Hills HS - but I was born in Pittsburgh PA in the rural edge (then) surrounded by farms, then in `63 we drove out on old 66 for Dad's new job, & I was in San Diego from grades 6-12 (University HS `70) - & then to college in LA, HB & now Orange.

Back then the drive up from SD to visit our Grandparents in Santa Ana was 4 hours each way on 101/PCH thru every town & stop light, with AG all the way up - including the formerly expansive flower fields!

Orange was all AG & groves just near to us, back when my wife bought the house here in 68 (prior marriage) - but by the time we met & had kids in the 80's, it was all city. At least we're next to the Old Towne district in a 1921 Craftsman, & the folks are mostly "small town friendly"

Well - except for the crazy & spoiled Chapman U kids inundating our neighborhoods lately!

I get back to NE Oklahoma a few times a year to visit Curt/cabinetmaker on here, & my Cherokee buddies, & the "real unmolested country" myself - & just for the sanity!


Tom
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Posted by: Tom_T Jul 26 2016, 04:18 PM

If they had any kids that you knew, then you might be able to google for them, to ask where it went next.

You also might be able to do a VIN search with DMV to see if it's registered to anybody, or see if Donna Leek in Grass Valley can trace it for you (she's ex-DMV & does registration/DMV services).

http://dmvgal.blogspot.com/

Wouldn't that be a hoot-n-a-half to find it!

PS - the Autochecks, CarFax, etc. won't do any good, because of the old school shorter & non-standardized VINs.

PSS - I'll try to ask around at some of our PCA-OCR events with some of our longstanding members, to see if they knew him &/or where his 914 went. I don't know him since I've only been a PCA member since `09, because I was too busy playing rugby 70-96 to mess around in car clubs!


Tom
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