Trying to impress the girls at the local swimming pool has its pitfalls. | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Embarrassing yourself in front of the girls at the local swimming pool will destroy your cool.

    One of my first cars, and probably my favorite, was a 1954 Studebaker Conestoga wagon. It was a 2-door baby blue with a 232 Cubic Inch V8 and two-barrel carburetor. When my dad built our house on Rays Road in 1959-1960, he bought it for hauling tools back and forth from our home in Little Five Points Atlanta.

    After we moved in in 1961, I inherited the car as he moved up to a pickup truck. I immediately changed the Hubcaps to 1957 Plymouth Fury Chrome hubcaps. (Don't know where I got them but they were bought and paid for from Soda Jerk earnings and not stolen). I also installed a floor shift to replace the column shift that was standard.

    The transmission was a Borg Warner with overdrive. In order for any OD transmission to back up, the freewheeling clutch MUST BE LOCKED. There was a shaft/rod built into the transmission that automatically accomplishes this whenever the transmission is put into reverse. Unfortunately, when I installed the floor shift, I did not know about the shaft/ rod. Everything worked great as long as I was not in overdrive. If I was in overdrive and pulled into a parking spot, the car would not engage reverse and I could not back out.

    Naturally, that is exactly what I did at Milam Park. I pulled into a parking spot overlooking the pool for obvious reasons. We use to gather there to shoot the bull and watch the swimmers. (i.e. girls).

    When I tried to back out the locked transmission prevented the car from moving backwards. I had to put the car in neutral and get help to push it back so I could move out going forward. It was very embarrassing and I had hoped that none of the potential dates had noticed.

    I sure wish there had been the internet back then and that I had a computer because I endured this problem for many months before a mechanic told me about the shaft. I installed a makeshift shaft to disengage the overdrive and I was good to go.
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Atlanta to Nashville via Dixie Flyer in 1952 Small History, In the Past, Body & Soul, It's Personal Drag Racing in Atlanta in the 1970s was against the law but ……


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