Happy Anniversary!

In 1970 I was 10 years out of high school, married, working on the Fire Dept and riding a YamahaYDS-3. I just got a note about the 60th High School reunion. How did this happen?

tim
 
In 1969 I was 15 and riding a chopper.
A 305 Honda which I customized, including sculpting and lace panels on the tank and side covers.

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Three years later, a Triumph Bonneville chopper.

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This thread seems to have become a trip down memory lane. Let me see, in 1969 I left primary school and started at Galashiels Academy. Sounds posh but it was the only secondary school in the town. Motorbikes? Still had a few more years to go as pillion on me Mum's BSA Bantams.

We travelled all over the British Isles on a series of Bantams. Mother bought the first one when I was eighteen months - she reckoned I was old enough to stand around while she sorted the bike out. It was a D1 with a single saddle and a wee parcel shelf to which she fitted a rudimentary child car seat. Into which I was lifted and strapped in. By the time I was about six, I was sat on a conventional dual seat.

She never had enough money to buy a car, so I grew up on the back of a motorbike.
 
I was a Junior in high school. Bike was a Honda CB160, car was an orange 62 Corvair my Dad and I had rebuilt. I remember it like it was yesterday. At dinner one Friday night, out of the blue Dad said he had bought me a car. I couldn't believe it. Who was this person and what did they do with my Father. He would not say what it was, only that it was a car. Well, Saturday morning we loaded up and drove across town to a small car lot. Naturally the cars up front were the muscle cars of the day: Camaros, Mustangs, GTOs, etc. He drove right past them. Then came the family 4 door cars. Thankfully he drove past them. When we got the the very last row of 4 doors he stopped and we got out. He pointed at the Corvair saying, "There it is". What he was pointing at was a sun faded red 2 door Corvair up on concrete blocks. Hell we had to borrow a couple of tires to get it home. My disappointment was short lived because when we got it home and in the garage we immediately got to work. It took a couple of months of evenings and weekends for us to get it running and prep'ed for paint. What I ended up with looked brand new inside and out, and could get a nice chirp of the rear wheels in second gear.
 
I was a Junior in high school. Bike was a Honda CB160, car was an orange 62 Corvair my Dad and I had rebuilt. I remember it like it was yesterday. At dinner one Friday night, out of the blue Dad said he had bought me a car. I couldn't believe it. Who was this person and what did they do with my Father. He would not say what it was, only that it was a car. Well, Saturday morning we loaded up and drove across town to a small car lot. Naturally the cars up front were the muscle cars of the day: Camaros, Mustangs, GTOs, etc. He drove right past them. Then came the family 4 door cars. Thankfully he drove past them. When we got the the very last row of 4 doors he stopped and we got out. He pointed at the Corvair saying, "There it is". What he was pointing at was a sun faded red 2 door Corvair up on concrete blocks. Hell we had to borrow a couple of tires to get it home. My disappointment was short lived because when we got it home and in the garage we immediately got to work. It took a couple of months of evenings and weekends for us to get it running and prep'ed for paint. What I ended up with looked brand new inside and out, and could get a nice chirp of the rear wheels in second gear.

Another Corvair fan - VERY cool Jake!

My first car in 1974 was a 2-door '65 Corvair Corsa 140 HP with 4x1bbl carbs, dual exhausts and a factory four-speed. That thing was sort of like a VW Beetle - but with four times the power and all the traction to boot. I could mop the floor with any four or six-cylinder car or any kid who was out with his Dad's V8 OldsmoBuick on a Friday night. After I filled in all the holes with sheet metal, rivets and fibreglas, I painted it with house paint and a roller in the driveway - it was blue with a black vinyl top (my buddies called it "The Bruise" because it was black and blue).

I won a lotta cash with that little buzz-bomb and best of all, it had a fold-down back seat....
 
After I filled in all the holes with sheet metal
Pete. Rust they did. That all took place in Michigan and my Corvair only being 7 years old had a couple of holes you could put your hand in. Back then closing school for winter weather was unheard of and I recall we had a ton of lake effect snow fall one night. About the only kids at school that day were the country boys with 4 wheel drive pick ups and my orange Covair.
 
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