| Show vt Mini sketches of maxi max living By HAL GREAVES THE OLD CARS III In the Old Cars sketch number number number num num- ber two Enterprise July 30 1970 we saw how the Model T Ford could be fixed with baling wire by various verbal explosions or by physical abuse But sometimes the Model T didn't need outside help of any kind It simply fixed Itself It contracted some kind of all ail ail ailment ailment ment and then If you left it f alone long It enough got well This happened once to the lovely but onery old coupe that Ralph N Nellson Neilson and I drove around the southern part of Oregon In the summer of 1928 while we tried to sell a few woolens One day in late June Ralph and I decided we were close enough to Crater Lake that we ought to see It We approached it from Medford to the southwest southwest southwest south south- west and one stretch of uphill uphill up up- up hill hlll grade was about seven miles long Of course we had to take this entire long climb In low gear and that made the old flivver very hot When we were about a mlle half a from the lake the car was so hot It gave out with a great bang and stopped dead We thought it was wasa a goner but we still wanted to see the lake So we pushed the car to the side of the road and walked the rest of the way to Crater Lake We must have stayed at the lake until late afternoon or early evening at least long enough for the engine to cool off When we arrived back at the coupe we intended to turn it around by hand and coast to the nearest town We did coast for quite a distance and then whoever was driving thought he ought to try slipping the car Into gear just to see If it would make another loud noise or perchance run It ran Smoothly And quietly for fora a Model T T. T Ralph and I were so relieved that we thought it ran more smoothly than it had be be- be fore It had fixed itself by cooling off not a bad Idea for you and me and all of us The next day or two Ralph and I encountered a couple of modern good Samaritans One was a middle-aged middle Indian woman woman woman wo wo- wo- wo man who lived somewhere along the beautiful Rogue River in southwestern Oregon Her name was Mrs Crispin and because she was an unusually Interesting woman Ralph and I suspended our efforts to sell woolens for foran foran foran an afternoon In order to visit with her She spoke Intelligently Intelligent intelligent- ly about a number of Ideas and events that we as twenty- twenty year year old old college students thought were Important She said she had acquired an education education education edu edu- cation by reading systematically systematic systematic- ally and extensively in the En Encyclopedia Encyclopedia Encyclopedia En- En cyclopedia Britannica She showed us some of the work of Indian draftsmen she knew including some deerskin gloves which she had made Ralph and I as asked ed If it she could make such gloves for us She said yes and traced the outlines of our hands on pieces of paper she said she would send us some gloves after the fall crop of deer had been harvested and she had had time to tan the hides After we arrived back in Utah that fall we carried on some correspondence with M Mrs r s Crispin and sure enough during during during dur dur- ing the winter she sent us our deerskin gloves The other Samaritan was the owner of a service station In order for us to reach the selling selling selling sell sell- ing territory assigned to o us we had to cross the Cascade Mountains from Ashland to Klamath Falls But when we were ready to leave Ashland our Ford was almost out of gas and needed oil and we were almost broke We stopped at a service station and asked the owner if he would accept a check on a small checking account I had In a Salt Lake City bank or If not if he would accept some of our samples in a trade for some gas and oil He rejected both proposals and then added that he would fill our tank with gas and provide the oil we needed If we would send him the money as soon as we could As I recall we crossed the mountains that same sam day and drove to the small saw mill community of Modoc Point north of Klamath Falls and got in some selling time before nightfall We had a good day for the little that was left of it By the time we quit selling we had at least twenty dollars In our pockets a magnificent sum to us at that time like sixty or eighty dollars to a couple of hungry young men today Probably the first things we bought with some of that money were sardines or beans and some crackers But the next morning we paid off our debt by mail to the fine gentleman on the west side of the mountains Why didn't we make notes so I could include in include include in- in clude his name here And why didn't we continue our correspondence correspondence correspondence corre corre- with the interesting Mrs Crispin Many other wonderful and sometimes incredible things happened to us and to that old Ford during that summer In Oregon One of or the most in incredible incredible incredible in- in credible In light of today's standards for cars was the manner in which we changed its color from black to maroon We simply bought a can of paint some sandpaper a brush and painted it on a Saturday afternoon afternoon afternoon after after- noon when we should have been out trying to sell woolens The entire paint job may have cost costus us as much as five or six dollars But the old flivver looked looked look look- ed good to us in tact fact we thought it was fairly dashing We thought it would improve our image as woolen salesmen Within the past month I have had bids for painting my 1966 Buick Bulck they have varied from to This latter bid was made with considerable flourish flourish flourish flour flour- ish and condescension After a summer rich in ex experience experience experience ex- ex but poor in financial returns we headed back toward Salt Lake City and the University University sity of Utah We decided to take a short-cut short from Alturas California California Cali Cali- fornia to I believe a distance of about miles mUes It may have been beena a a. short cut for mileage but it was a long-cut long for time and frustration For the road proved to be little more than a desert trail with many miles where the dust was Inches deep It took us an entire day if I remember correctly and when we reached our destination the car our samples our equipment and our bodies were layered with desert dust I suppose we cleaned cleaned cleaned clean clean- ed up the best we could but the old car undoubtedly shook dust on to the Nevada most of the way to Utah Two or three days later we reached Salt Lake and made ready to acquire some education of a kind different from the one the theold theold theold old Model T helped us to ac acquire acquire acquire ac- ac quire that summer in Oregon A little later Ralph drove the coupe to Ephraim and sold it to his father for eighty dol dol- lars It had made a circle within the Nellson Neilson family from Ralphs Ralph's brother Merrill to us and then to Lauritz the father of the Nellson Neilson fam fam- ily From that day on I have regarded Lauritz Nellson Neilson as one of my benefactors I dont don't know how long he drove that little coupe but I suppose it soon acquired its last ailment refused to cure Itself or be cured expired and was taken to its final resting place somewhere somewhere somewhere some some- where In the Ephraim fields Our monetary depreciation on that old flivver for a summer of fantastic driving experience gorgeous scenery some valuable valuable valuable able and educational hard knocks in the world of reality some sociable visits with various various various vari vari- ous Mrs and good Samaritans and a little selling selling sellIng sell- sell Ing of woolens on the side had been forty-five forty dollars And the eighty dollars Ralph and I divided between us may have paid our tuition for the fall fail quarter at the university |
