The Truth
Copyright© 2015 by Old Man with a Pen
Chapter 11
I suppose that by now, you have figured out I’m lying through my teeth. Congratulations. The barn full of motorcycles did exist ... and I did fix the BMW ... but it was a 1956 ... it just need a few bolts installed and properly torqued ... and the wheels trued ... and a few new spokes ... but Mrs. Wise did gift me with a motorcycle ... and it was gold (rattle can) ... but it was an Indian Chieftain.
I like the Indian twin because it uses a distributer and points. The basket of Harley’s and the airplanes in the yard are true ... and they were as mentioned.
The other barn full of doodlebugs is real ... and so are the Duesenberg and the Cord.
The episode with the English bike and the gaspump hose is all too true ... so is the impact with the plate glass window.
The ‘36 ford 3 window was real ... but I never made it run. No engine. It sat beside the garage until I went in the Navy ... mother waited until I was on the bus to have it hauled to the wrecking yard.
After the Navy ... where I learned all sorts of useful shit ... like SCUBA, parachuting and gunsmithing ... the government sent me home ... with ruined teeth from excessive fluoride and a poorly healed fractured vertebrae from a fall onboard ship.
I had a GED gained by testing but mom decided I needed a real diploma and enrolled me in the 11th grade. Two years later I had a genuine high school parchment.
I went from one of the youngest kids in school to one of the oldest.
Across the street from my best friend David’s house was an old lady who had lived there since Noah crashed the Ark ... and in her garage was a 1928 Buick Master 8. (Think long bodied coupe with two doors and four seats.) The factory original green Buick had been on blocks since the stock market crash of 1929: So there weren’t a lot of miles on the clock.
The tires and wheels were in the basement and the battery had been on a Tungar Battery Charger (General Electric) (trickle) since 1929. The horsehair interior was green except for one spot where the sun had shone through a knothole in one board in the garage ... that spot was faded to grey.
Once a month the husband had poured a little gasoline in the carburetor and started it. Then he performed all the standard maintenance ... greasing the zerks, checking the antifreeze and changing the oil and paper filter every three months; adjusting the valves, replacing cracked lines and hoses and generally made sure it would run if needed.
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