1976

I learned quite a while ago that making decisions isn't all it cracked up to be. For one reason, I was never really good at it. Looking back over my life I realize that most of the decisions made were made by my brother. My brother got me my first job in 1976, I was sixteen, I had quit high school and was pretty much just enjoying myself everyday. (the reason for the quit I will explain another time). My brother got me into the Fire Department the same year. I believe the job came about because he realized that I was spending my days hanging out at the firehouse having a great time with the older members while he was stuck at work.

The first job was at Stonington Subaru on Route 1 in Stonington Ct. I believe it is a Porch and Patio place now. The Job was Recon, of course in 1976 in didn't really have a title, the job was to clean and prep cars, keep the shop clean, assist the technicians and make pick up and deliveries using one of two Dodge trucks. Both trucks were great, great if you liked chasing the trucks direction with the steering wheel to keep them on the road. The steering boxes were so shot there was four inches of play in the steering wheels that had to be bypassed in each direction to make corrections, dead spots if you will. Both trucks also required keeping a case of oil with them at all times in the bed. One truck left a smoke trail where ever it went due to burning oil, the other poured the oil out of the lifter cover. Both needed to be filled with oil on every start. The place was screwy, I was making $100.00 a week take home. This was great because it kept me in cigarettes, pizzas, Coca Cola and beer for the week. One of the vehicles we sold was a green colored AMC Hornet which we named. of course, the Green Hornet, this vehicle must have been built in a boomerang plant because it always came back. The one year I worked there I think we sold it five times, it was there when I came, it was there when I left. My boss, the owner, had certain peculiarities about how a used vehicle should be conditioned before selling. To clean the vinyl seats on vehicles I was given Brillo pads, yup, soap and steel wool to scrub seats. Now I am not sure how many of you have used a Brillo pad but they deteriorate with use. They slowing break up leaving tiny little metal fibers behind. Have you ever sat in a seat that has the back portion inundated with metal slivers? You itch. The second change to a vehicle was that all wheel rims were to be painted silver, and all hubcap white. I, on many occasions, took great looking white rims and painted them white, then took the chrome hubcaps, Chrome Hubcaps, scuffed them up with a wire wheel and shot them gloss white. 

Not really selling that many cars everyday meant I had a lot of time to do the other things required, like customer oil changes, alternator exchanges, exhaust system replacements, cylinder head removals etc etc. As a matter of fact my last day at work was a Friday, it was afternoon, I had just changed out the exhaust system on a 1968 Jaguar, (that's a lot of pipe by the way). The owner came out and told me he was letting me go because the car preps weren't getting done. I explained it is hard to clean cars when you have me spend the morning doing two oil changes and an exhaust swap, he didn't care, I was gone. It turned out he let people who had my job with him go pretty much every 6 to 9 months the head salesman told me later. 

Let me tell you about the last time the Green Hornet entered my life. We received a call at the dealership that the Hornet was at Groton Long Point and would not run, Me and a mechanic were dispatched in one of the two oil consuming trucks to drive to GLP, pick the Hornet up and bring it back. We left work around two in the afternoon. As we proceed down route 1 we made a stop at the Blue Whale package store to pick up ...er...a package, from there we went through Mystic to route 214. As we passed through West Mystic the rear tire on the truck decided to give up its useful existence. Not to be discouraged we continued on, thumping along the shoreline with a flat tire. The mechanic decided we should call the shop and let them know we needed a spare tire, so we stopped at a package store in Noank to make the call and pick up a couple more packages. From there we thumped along the back roads to Groton Long Point to retrieve the Green Hornet. Arriving at the home of the person who had purchased the Hornet the mechanic managed to get the Hornet running. Since it seemed rather stupid to drive the truck all the way back to Stonington with a flat, we left the truck and took the Hornet. The Mechanic, upon passing through Mystic decided we should make a quick stop at his girl friends because the hornet was over heating. At the girls house he proceeded to add water to the cooling system while we both switched from drinking Milwaukee (packages) products to Southern products. The whiskey was going down pretty good when he called the shop to tell them about the cooling issue. The shop informed him that my brother had left Stonington for Groton Long Point with a spare rim and tire (removed from the other truck), and that we should head back there to meet him. So back in the hornet, back to Noank for more "packages" then onto Groton long Point. Arriving there we found that my brother had already changed the tire and rim. Now with three of us this should be pretty easy right? My brother drives his truck home, the mechanic drives the Hornet back, and I (newly taught how to drive a standard) would drive the company truck. Simple correct? Well it would have been except I was of no use, between the three stops for beer and the one stop for whiskey I was...what's the term?...Fucked up. 

So My brother took me and him back to the shop in the company truck, there he loaded me in my car and drove us back to Groton Long point, there he met his wife who he had called and she left her car in Groton Long Point, drove me in my car to my house, with him following in his truck, he drove her back to Groton Long Point, picked up her car and then they went home.

The Green Hornet, driven by the mechanic, did not make it back to work that night, the mechanic's car spent the night at the shop, it also spent the next day and next night at the shop. It arrived the following day with one well hungover mechanic at the wheel.