times, there were a different

My brother owned a VW Bug, the year was roughly 1968, (which would make me 8 or possibly 9), the car was from the early 60's, late 50's. After driving it around a few years as such, he decided it would be cool to build a dune buggy out of it, so the body was cut off. All this left was a seat, an engine transaxle assy and a steering wheel., essentially an operating chassis.  Not having instant money back then meant that any vehicle conversion took a little while, and as you know if you have ever owned a project that took a while to complete, you would get itchy to run it. The car was in need of a fuel tank because the stock VW tank would not work with the new body, so while not having a fuel source would deter most people from running a vehicle, not so, my brother. Back then  lawyers and insurance companies had not found their way into every aspect of our lives. Back then each person was held responsible for his or her actions, if you got hurt or killed doing something stupid, people would say, "well, that was stupid" and that would be the end of it.  So without the restrictions of current day litigation, and with the ingenuity that such times allow, my brother was out cruising around the neighborhood streets, up through the trails and dirt tracking around our yard. 

The secret to running a car without a fuel tank? Me.  It was my job to squat down and squeeze in between the back of the seat and the engine, my brother had a rubber fuel hose hooked to the fuel pump and the other end was stuffed in a coffee can, through a hole in the plastic cover. My job was to hold that can while my brother flew along, half the time sideways, half the time airborne. As for worrying about the kid holding a can of flammable liquid next to the engine? There couldn't have been too much of a concern, after all, he even gave my parents rides. My payment for doing this, was at the end of the day, after he was tired of playing with the vehicle I would get a long ride in the front seat. Of course by the time he was tired of playing with the car, he was tired of playing with the car, and when it was time for me to take the front seat, it was only then anyone realized that I couldn't have a ride because no one else was small enough to squish behind the seat and hold the coffee can.

I spent many days behind that seat, and I really can't complain, I had a great time riding all day long, and while the dune buggy was never finished and finally scrapped, he did get an actual fuel tank for it and we spent many a day flying around in that car. As a matter of fact, that VW Chassis was the first "car" I ever drove, of course the distance I drove it was about 30 feet and then it was straight into a tree but what the hell. 

 I think my brother did not want to confuse me with too many details, he explained how to let out the clutch and give it gas and that was it, I think since he was sitting next to me he figured he would explain things as they came up, unfortunately they came up before he had a chance at much detail, items like, "TURN!"  "GET OFF THE GAS!!!" "BRAKE!" "CLUTCH, BRAKE!!!" came and went real fast. It is amazing how much yelling there can be in 30 feet when you are heading for a solid object.