[Clayart] a milestone anniversary

[Vince Pitelka]

My first vehicle was "Wilma," a 1961 M38-A1 ex-military Jeep.  I bought her in the spring of 1968 at the end of my second year at Merritt College in Oakland shortly before moving up to Humboldt County.  Archer Brothers in Hayward, CA did mechanical rebuild and cosmetic body work on used military Jeeps and sold them for reasonable prices. I got mine for$1200 and immediately added a roll bar and soft top, and soon after a Warn overdrive.  I had a lot of fun in that Jeep up in the Sierra in the summer of 1968 and then in the spring of 1969 took a trip down to the Mojave Desert with some friends - to the area now known as the Mojave National Preserve.  But the Jeep with soft top proved impractical for the long rainy Humboldt County winters and after owning it for just a year and a half I traded it for a 3/4-ton 1957 4WD International pickup.  The Jeep had a very big impact on my and implanted my love of 4WD adventures in the mountains and deserts.  I went through several Isuzu Troopers and a Rodeo, but "Rosie," my 2010 4runner Trail Edition is by far the best vehicle I have owned. 
- Vince

Vince Pitelka
Retired Faculty, Appalachian Center for Craft, Tennessee Tech University
Now residing Chapel Hill, NC 27516
vpitelka at dtccom.net  
sites.tntech.edu/wpitelka/


-----Original Message-----
From: Clayart [mailto:clayart-bounces at lists.clayartworld.com] On Behalf Of Hank Murrow
Sent: Thursday, June 7, 2018 4:48 PM
To: Clayart international pottery discussion forum <clayart at lists.clayartworld.com>
Subject: Re: [Clayart] a milestone anniversary


> On Jun 7, 2018, at 10:26 AM, David Lyons <lyonsd at plbb.us> wrote:
> 
> My first car was a 62 Ford falcon.  3 on the tree 4 door. It never let me down, surviving my 16 year old meager driving skills.  Ahh, memories. 
> Dave Lyons 

It has been interesting to review the stories of several potters’ first cars.

My first car was a beige Studebaker Coupe, as unprepossessing a choice as a boy of 17 could imagine, and a far cry from the Olds 88 I certainly preferred.

Yet, the refined lines penned by Raymond Loewy grew on me, and some small mods(lowering and getting rid of the badges and chrome bits), a change of paint to metallic sky blue, tuck & roll upholstery, and a more sonorous exhaust system made the car more than adequate to me.

Many miles later and lots of left-coast exploration from San Diego to Big Sur found it unceremoniously deposited at the salvage yard after an altercation with someone’s Jaguar saloon. Then, I became a potter, and cars took a much smaller part in my life.

YMMV, Hank in Eugene

PS: I have, however, been thinking about the Factory Five 818C kit car(at 80!)