136
VOLUME 37 NUMBER 3 | FALL 2019
LOOK BACK IN OJAI with Drew Mashburn Contributed on behalf of the Ojai Valley Museum
“Where do you think you’re going?!!!??” Dad questioned me in a very stern voice. “But, Dad! I’m just gonna drive it down to the corner to show Doug and Rick!” I whined. “What did I tell you before you bought it?” Dad asked. “But, but . . . only to the corner, Dad!” “I’m not going to lose everything I’ve worked so hard for all these years because you want to risk driving without insurance. You’re a juvenile, so I’m the one who gets sued for all he’s worth!” Dad was adamant. My first automobile collected dust while I worked my tail off for about three months accumulating enough dough for insurance. I mowed lawns, filled in ditches, rototilled weeds, baby-sat and whatever to speed me onto the highways and byways! While I was earning the bucks for the insurance payment, I drove my 1949 Chevrolet pickup forward and backward about 6 feet in the area Dad designated as my parking spot. That old six-cylinder
sounded like music to my ears! I painted the rear bumper aluminum and the rims black. I tire-blacked the sides of the old, weather-beaten, cracked tires. She was lookin’ mighty pretty to me, even though she had lots of dents, but had a great coat of dark-red primer. I gave my buddy (“Oakie” as my buds and I called him) $150 for the beauty. Oakie had covered the inside door panels with simulatedwood shelving-liner. He’d put new carpet on the floor and, best yet ... installed “Barefoot” pedals on the gas pedal and a floor-mounted headlights-dimmer switch. I tell ya, that girl was chompin’ at the bit to hit the road and so was I!! One of the first places I drove my new wheels was to Nordhoff High School where I was a junior. When my buddies saw the pickup, a few of them posed: “Why did you buy a truck?!!?? You can’t take girls for a date in that ol’ thing!” Hmmmmmmm ... they had a point, but I just told them that I’d borrow my folks’ F85 Oldsmobile on date nights. Settled that problem. Mainly, I bought a pickup because my