Machines that have owned me#
Certain machines, gadgets, and technology have been like steadfast friends throughout my years. During some of the rough times of youth, it's not exaggerating to say they saved me. If they, in turn, could tell their side of the story, and maybe commiserate with each other, the tone might not be so sentimental: all of them were destined to receive excessive use and undergo alteration and experimentation by an amateur intent on learning by doing. Mea culpa and thank you, old friends.
As I'm reminded of some of these machine friends, I'll occasionally add an entry for them here.
1969 Chevy Bel Air#
The Bel Air was originally owned by my grandfather and landed with my dad via inheritance about the time I was nearing driving age. I un-subtly and mercilessly campaigned for it to be bequeathed to me, eventually wearing my parents down. It had the 327 cubic inch V8 and Turbohydramatic automatic transmission that were most common in Bel Airs of that era. This car was the victim of me learning auto maintenance and was a trusted companion into my early twenties. A family friend on whose farm I worked after school each day during one of my teenage years happened to be a gifted auto-body hobbyist; he kindly allowed me to barter some of my cow-milking and field work hours for using his farm shop to do some body repair and a factory-color repaint of the Bel Air -- he was a good tutor and a kind soul. My memory is that it was in recognition of this notable repainting effort that my parents fully and formally handed the car over to me.
The Bel Air is shown below prepped for an end-of-summer return to college for another semester. It is loaded without and within with all of the belongings -- including my AAL tower speakers -- needed to fit out both my dorm room and my sister's. Its trunk was spacious, and on at least one occasion concealed two friends in the name of cutting our admission cost in half when entering the local drive in theater.
1971 Gilson 420 snowmobile#
I convinced my parents to let me buy this used snowmobile from a friend of a friend in the winter of 1977. Almost any other make and model would have been more appealing, but a cash-strapped kid from a thrifty family takes what he can get. It had an overmatched one-cylinder Kolher 294 CC engine with a temperamental Tillotson carburetor. Wrenching on and venturing about on the Gilson was a lifesaving means of micro-escape during a couple of awkward and depressing years. I even spent a significant chunk of my spare time one summer giving the Gilson a makeover -- replacing the ugly orange paint with black and reupholstering the seat. Wisconsin winters could be counted upon for a good amount of snow in those years, but I still pushed the limits of "how little snow is enough?" at the beginning and end of the seasons to maximize my riding/escape time.
I was not a picture taking kid (would have involved diverting precious dollars to film and photo development rather then gas and tools), so I can only offer this parts-manual cover photo to show you what the humble Gilson 420 looked like (pre makeover, of course).
1973 Honda CB450 K6#
Sheepish confession: I was among the fringe of college students whose world was rocked by reading Robert Pirsig's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Together with the cerebral impacts of the book, I concluded I had a need to own and commune with a motorcycle. (If, back in 1977, I would have had the good sense to spend my meager funds purchasing a small motorcycle rather than the Gilson snowmobile, I could have gotten an earlier start at this. C'est la vie.) I'd barely started shopping around when I learned a family friend needed to sell a CB450; I knew it was a good option, but the several years to follow established what a steadfast and elegant machine I had purchased. I had plenty of quality time doing maintenance on this bike, but it was a Honda with a full measure of legendary Honda quality, so it didn't place heavy demands on its steward. It saw a lot of commuting and did a fair amount of moderate trips and joy rides with young-adult me as well, and it delivered on the zen union Pirsig had inspired me to seek.
Again, I failed to take or keep any pictures of this bike, but I tracked down the sale-listing pic below, which is spot on except that mine had a stylish and useful chrome tail rack.
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