[john walker's workshop]

i bought a 53 olds 2dr post from a friend in high school for $35. two payments . this was in '64, and i was 15 and no license yet. whatever, the cops were lax back then. it ran pretty well, but it only had a 303 engine, and another friend had a 324 in a '56. well hell, bigger's better right? so i set about doing my first engine swap. first off i gashed my wrist getting off the 56 hood, a scar i still sport to this day. after about a month, the 324 was running in the 53, and it ran ok, but sure smoked a lot more than the 303. shoulda checked it out better. bulk oil in the glass bottles @ 25 cents a qt kept it going. drove it around that summer, lost the brakes once coming up to a light and detoured over the curb and into a supermarket parking lot where i took out an abandoned cart and eventually managed to slow down by coasting in circles. later that summer, me and a couple of friends found a pile of radiators outside a local wrecking yard, appropriated them, and cashed them in at the local junk buyer for gas money, and on the way back home, at a yellow light, took a left in front of a chevy pickup and that was it for the olds. i thought he was stopping for the light, because the truck sat on a rake. apparently most pickups sit that way. karma maybe, but lessons learned? funny, just last weekend, i bought a 63 bug convertible (the bugster) 150 miles out of town and thought i'd drive it back to seattle. lost the brakes coming up to a stop and with about 2 seconds to react, swerved to the right and got 2 wheels up on the sidewalk and bypassed the line of cars at the light and managed to get into a 7/11 lot and did circles until it stopped. deja vu? gonna swap that engine too. 911 power now. some things never change. hopefully, i won't wreck it too.