ONE MAN'S CAR

[Music] 19:36 sure seems a long time ago let me see I remember that was the year King Edward of England gave up his throne and became the Duke of Windsor for the love of an American girl Shirley Temple was already a veteran movie star at the ripe old age of 7 Haile Selassie's flight completed Italy's conquest of Ethiopia and civil war broke out in Spain which became a testing ground for Nazi and fascist military equipment 1936 was also the year I bought the car a lot of mileage sure has piled up since then but I still remember driving at home for the first time just as if it were yesterday I was as proud as a peacock positive that everybody I passed was admiring my choice and I sure handled it like a baby that first day I was afraid every other driver within a block of me was itching to carve his initials on one of my fenders well I finally got home without getting a complete nervous breakdown again oh hello Tom C is that new car yep just got it today ah it's a beauty the folks have been after me for a long time to get a new one so I dropped by the sales room and traded in the old jalopy here she is hey you what's the big idea what are you trying to do wreck that car why this is a new automobile you think they grow on trees get that thing out of here some people have no regard for other people's property God dry up oh gee daddy it's so fur I'll say it is and I pick em or can I pick them it's got a radio please turn off that radio do you want to kill the battery Junior take your foot off that starter holy moly Tom you'll have the whole neighborhood out but he might have ruined it stepping on the starter that way Oh dad I made sure it was in neutral never mind it does look nice doesn't it such a lovely color does better than 20 miles to the gallon and what a smooth-running motor how fast we go dad 90 I think a darker shade of upholstery would have been better darling if that isn't just like a woman okay hop in but I'm not dressed up at all you look fine the way you are mad besides you'll be in the car what difference does it make all right just a little ride then it isn't safe you know your father needs plenty of room driving these hey Dad can I Drive I know how what I should say not this motors hardly been broken in yet ha gee whiz hey get that dog out of here do you want him to ruin the upholstery in the old car in the old car maybe but it's going to be different with this one it seems to me that's what you said when we got the last one well this time I mean it I did mean it - and lived up to it for a while where are you going the gang's waiting for me mom we've got a tough ball game on this afternoon did you polish the car oh I'll do it when I get back uh uh uh you know what your father said to you this morning jr. you better polish that car right now but gee whiz mom you can play ball later you better do a good job - you know how your father will check up on it when he gets back I guess I made life miserable for the kids for a while why if sis so much has put her feet up on the seat she got a blast the pin their ears back time went on as it has a habit of doing a lot of things happen during the next few years some of them pleasant to remember some of them not so pleasant for example in 1937 the Japs began their long planned offensive in China we got mixed up with them too when they bombed and sank the US gunboat pene that same year by mistake on top of that Hitler marched into Austria the next year we all held our breath but then it looked like things would quiet down after Chamberlain flew to Munich fell for Hitler's phony promises and told the world he had achieved peace in our time the opening of the World's Fair in New York and 39 took our minds off European troubles for a while come to think of it baseball history was made that same year - when the New York Yankees became the first team to win four World Series in a row but the big news of that year was Hitler's invasion of Poland that really touched off the fireworks as England and France declared war on Germany all during 1940 the Nazi war machine rolled roughshod over Europe things looked blacker and blacker and over here the national Selective Service Act was passed as America began to build up its Armed Forces President Roosevelt asked Congress for a billion dollars for national defense but even so most of us weren't worried too much about getting into the war we were getting a lot of use out of the car to those first few years we piled up plenty of pleasure driving mileage mileage that hurts plenty now in good weather we used to go on picnics pretty often used to make a lot more trips to go swimming in those days too and what a treat it was to start out on a vacation trip in a car that was in tip-top shape but of course we got a lot more out of the car than just fun day in and day out rain or shine it carried me to and from my job many's a load of groceries that the missus has driven home in it and it really took a beating on some of her shopping trips one evening Madge and I went off to the movies together we didn't enjoy the picture very much that night because something happened on the way [Applause] yep you guessed it the first bump and after all the lectures I'd been giving Madge about careful driving did I get the horse laughs the damage wasn't much hardly more than took the paint off things went on just about the same as the years went by the daily grind that the job the yearly vacation trips summer joyrides weekend visits the mileage kept piling up but I was letting down on having the car taken care of didn't worry too much if the oil wasn't changed on time or if I didn't get a grease job every month and I'd almost forgotten about things like the battery and the spark plugs and the air cleaner matter of fact as I remember I was beginning to toy with the idea of turning the car in for a new one along about the same time we began to run into a serious problem at least a couple of nights a week it'll probably sound familiar to a lot of you it's awfully warm this evening don't you think some ice cream would taste good I guess so hey what's a five little word meaning Brazilian Eagle beginning with the letter C beginning with C oh I don't know but I'll be thinking about it while you get the ice cream hmm won't take long the cars right out front I guess huh I suppose I won't get any peace if I don't say dad can I have the keys to the car well I'm just going to use it to get some ice cream for your mother but dad I'm awfully late no I promised Gladys I'd be over to pick her up before 8:00 now listen son When I was your age I didn't have a car to run around him why I used to walk nine miles to school and it was good exercise I remember when I was courting your mother we used to go for long walks and the maybe take a trolley ride and we'd get some icecream yeah yeah but Dad Gladys wouldn't ride on a streetcar oh please let me have it just this one I told mother this morning I needed it what for to take that bunch of sorority saps of yours to some jukebox joint it's none of your business where we're going besides you should talk the way you moon around with that stuck-up Gladys Arnold don't you speak about miss Arnold that way I don't know why I should try to educate you anyway may I have the key to the car please but Dad I've gotta have the car tonight it's important I can't sis knows other kids use the bus because you had the car last time now wait a minute looks like someone in this family is going to do some walking and it's not going to be me I don't remember who won the battle that time but I do know who lost it the same one who always lost another year rolled around and it began just about like the ones before if you'll remember that was the year President Roosevelt was inaugurated for his third term Lou Gehrig passed away one of the greatest guys who ever played baseball his old team the Yankees trimmed the Brooklyn Dodgers in the World Series four games to one and Thanksgiving Day went back to its old spot on the calendar the last Thursday in November over on the other side things were going badly that year Germany declared war on Russia and if you'll remember the Nazis really tore through the red defenses in those days over here Congress passed the lend-lease bill we didn't realize it then but the wall was getting closer and closer to us I had something else on my mind a new car the new models looked mighty good I found myself beginning to spend more and more time stopping to look at the ads as I flipped through the pages of the magazine you see the old car was beginning to get pretty rundown I'd been letting things slide for quite some time nobody could tell me anything about the oil 2500 or even 3,000 miles was time enough to change it the chassis had to squeak its head off before I'd even think of getting a grease job and when cold weather hit well I just had some antifreeze tossed into the radiator and let it go at that but the old car was still running strong maybe a little noisy a little banged up plenty worn around the tires but we still got around okay I remember one lazy Sunday afternoon Madge and I had just finished dinner I was listening to a football game on the radio Mike pet team was behind but they had a drive underway the ball was snapped it comes back to active edge he starts to his left now he's dropping back Kelly is scooting down the far side line rat de vich [ __ ] his arm back teeth done wouldn't you know that done thing would quit at a time like this ladies and gentlemen we interrupt this program for a special bulletin Pearl Harbor has just been bombed by Japanese planes let me repeat that Pearl Harbor has just been bombed by Japanese planes why the Jersey yellow rats well you know what that started well we all went through after the country went to war we've tightened our belts to conserve food for our boys and our allies we did without new shoes for longer periods because the army needed lots of leather the government called on housewives to save waist fat they asked for our blood to save our boys lives and we gave it gladly those of us who could as the need to make things last became more and more important Madge began to hold her breath every time she used her electric iron even junior showed plenty of concern about the radio didn't overplay it because tubes were almost impossible to replace every time I used my electric razor I wondered if that would be my last shave from it sis felt the same way about her dwindling supply of silk stockings handle them as if they were made of cobwebs but the biggest worry of all you guessed it a family car remember all the things that happened back there beginning in December 1941 first the tire freeze three days after Pearl Harbor then tire rationing on December 30th and my tires had plenty of mileage on them even then a New Year's Day 1942 came the car freeze 1942 models were rationed starting February 2nd and the same month all passenger car production was stopped oh sure I'd been meaning to turn in the Oh jalopy right along but I missed the boat like everybody else on February 19th as the rubber situation got steadily worse the government even clamped down on tire recapping and retreading calling for a priority rating then came the government's plea to turn in all spare tires gasoline rationing went into effect with the punch card system May 12th and with coupons on July 9th the 35 miles-per-hour wartime speed limit became law replacement parts became scarce ER and scarcely well all of those things worried me plenty maybe we were covering less mileage but those slow speeds shorter trips more stopping and starting didn't do any good I began to see more than more articles in the papers and magazines about the need for more and better care to make cars last it all bothered me because the old car still got plenty of use and all of it important too when jr. and his pals weren't piling in old lamps toys pots rims and Lord knows what else for the scrap metal drive sis and her gang were using it to collect waste paper for the war effort not to be outdone Madge pitched into Red Cross work and of course that meant more work for the car the carpool idea of sharing the ride helped a lot but it seemed to me we still depended a lot on our rule jalopy for instance there was the day when the car figured in a big event in our lives goodbye son and and be a good soldier goodbye mother so long sis so long let's go soon another year rolled around of course with our boy in the thick of it the war was really getting all our attention then that year saw the desperate all-out Nazi drive against Russia thrown back city after city retaken also the second prong of the Nazi push along the north coast of Africa some of Rommels Afrika core is destroyed some captured the rest chased into the Mediterranean the first successful step in the invasion of Europe was made through Sicily and with it came the collapse of Mussolini the first of the bullying bragging dictators and it wasn't long after that before Italy was knocked out of the war completely that made it one down and two to go but the two that remained was still plenty tough in the Pacific that year it was hard going to drive the Japs out of the islands out of Attu and Kiska in the Aleutians despite our success on both battle fronts we knew we still had a long struggle on our hands as wartime mileage kept piling up and the car kept getting older and older I began to worry more and more about it about making it last of course everybody didn't feel the same way take my next-door neighbor Ken Spencer I remember one evening we were chewing the rag about the automobile situation oh that's a lot of bunk time spending a lot of money on an old rattletrap like my car and yours well I don't know Ken I've never had to hang on to one car as long as I have this one and from the looks of things I'll have to hang on for a long time to come that's where you're wrong I mark my words they'll be new cars on the market any day now I sure wish you were right but wishing for a new car isn't going to do any good if the old one gives up the gold I'll take my chances on that anyway you won't catch me throwing a lot of money down the sewer and I bet my car will stand up just long as yours with that Ken was wrong I don't think it was more than a week or so later when he had to substitute Shula for tires well that made me doubly anxious about my car particularly because I was finding it tougher and tougher to get any work done at my old dealers place well suppose I run it right down there so as you can change the oil and give it a grease job well sure I know you're busy but after all the car really needs now wait a minute don't pull that same time next week gag on me again after all I'm no stranger I've been doing business with you for you okay well there I was with a car that needed more and better care than ever before and I couldn't get it from a dealer who'd been getting practically every cents worth of my business for nearly 10 years that evening talking it over with Matt I found she was running into the same sort of thing with some of the retailers she'd been dealing with right along it just makes me furious that's what it does it isn't the fact that he hasn't much meat so I'm beginning to have my doubts about that too but it's the way he treats me you think I'd never bought anything from him before I know just how you feel mad well I've seen perfect strangers go into that place and be handed a package from under the counter but when I step up to be waited on he has the brazen gall to tell me he hasn't got a thing and whenever he does tell me something I think he was doing me a favor that's what annoys me most of all I'm getting the same kind of a runaround with the car it's bad enough you can't get a lubrication job but it's the simple little things like well for instance if you want water they say there's the bucket there for the tires sure help yourself and the windshield the actors oh it would bite them if they wiped it in my book people who treat you like that are out in the future why shouldn't we buy everything we need just from those people who are doing the best they can for us now sure why shouldn't we blacklist everybody who's taking advantage of us today pushing us around I'll put that butcher right at the top of the list yes and I've got a half a dozen dealers that are in the same book I'm so fed up begging those guys for service that I'm going to try my own hand at taking care of the car what you doing x2 Evans huh oh hello Willie I'm just freezing my car what I said I'm freezing my car or at least I'm trying to can I help you huh no no you better go away Willie you'll get all messed up what what's what Oh oh that's a grease gun Willie put that down put it down Willie you'll get all dirty well these last couple of years certainly changed a lot of things for the better when you stop to think what happened the way the war went the invasion of Normandy in 1944 spelled the beginning of the end the Nazis held us up for a time there but remember how Patton broke through and slashed across France the second landing in the South of France was another great squeeze play that paved the way for the breakthrough all along the German border the stage was all set for the big push in 45 the first thing you knew our boys were crossing the Rhine and the Nazis were in full flight Germany and everything it stood for was crumbling fast the handwriting on the wall became clearer and clearer as we smash city after city in the great victorious drive across the enemy's homeland a drive that finally brought us face to face with our Russian allies who had been driving through from the opposite direction the end of the war in Europe like everybody else who had a boy or someone else dear to them over there that was a grand and glorious feeling the day Germany quit after that we saw things get hotter and hotter for the Japs as we began to throw everything we had at them and we sure had something big the atomic bomb the most devastating instrument of warfare ever conceived we used just two of them remember and then the Japs folded in a hurry quickly sued for peace and high-ranking officers scurrying to MacArthur for terms of surrender then we really celebrated after four long years it was really over and then came the day that so many Americans had hoped and longed for VJ Day the boys began to come back from the battle fronts imagine I checked the lists of every transport as they were published then finally came our big day I guess maybe the biggest day of our lives the day our boy came home to us for good I met him alone at the station Maj didn't come said if she did she'd probably weep all over the place well what do you know you still got the same old car yep you know when I think of all the good times we used to have in it how's she running dad that's a good son after all it's well let's see it's nine years old now suddenly was tough trying to get it taken care of right all during the war but I'm really worried about it now with another winter coming along the last the last is quite some time you know well it better last long enough to get me home anyway you know dad it's great to be back great to have you back son yes that was a great day a really great day and it led directly to another happy event that took place not so long afterward one of my boys buddies came home to visit us and the first thing you know the old car got a different kind of face lifting as we fixed it up for my new son-in-law and my daughter to take a short honeymoon trip seemed like a long time ago since I used to scold her for putting her feet up on the seats well it's still rolling still carrying me to work still hauling the groceries for Madge and playing a pot and almost everything else we do the mileage is really getting up there now a lot more than I put on any car I've ever owned still from what I can gather it'll have to last us for another year maybe two who knows maybe more right now and for as long as it does have to last what I'm looking for is a dealer who'll take good care of it and now that I can get all the gas I want whenever I want it I'll keep looking for the place that gives me what I want the windshield wipe the tires checked the oil looked after the battery inspected regularly all the things my car needs to keep it rolling that's the kind of service I want and I want it with a smile too from a dealer who appreciates my business one more thing when I find that dealer I'll stick with him even if his place isn't the handiest one for me he'll get all of my business and that'll be plenty from now on especially when we get the new car but with the trips Madge and I have planned here's one man's car that will keep coming back to the dealer who gives me the kind of service I need and want [Music]