#1 - Day One of 13,870 The silver blue 1965 Mustang parked on the side of a long uphill stretch of I-71 in Ohio finally stopped blowing off steam but the sun had set an hour ago and we still hadn’t found a source of water to top off the radiator. The thought occurred that
#2 - Leaving Rohrbronn Most people will remember their first car, often bought with paper route or tobacco money. Mine was a white BMW 328 Roadster. Magnificent set of wheels, with functional steering and transmission and an overall length of five and a half inches. It was 1/28th the size and a mere
#3 - What a Country For years I had read everything I could get my hands on about what it’s like to be living in America. Pored over all the ads for cars and washing machines and refrigerators in Reader’s Digest and The Saturday Evening Post. Watched From here to Eternity and The
#4 - Gone Fishing Ambushed by the prospect of losing my first job in America, I wasn’t sure how to react when two sour-faced officials from the Laborers’ International Union of North America emerged from a freshly car-washed black Lincoln sedan and suggested I put down the hoe and stop doing what I
#7 - Sunbelt Blues When you live in the Great Lakes region of the United States, your friends in the South will occasionally remind you that you live in the Snowbelt, a reasonably accurate characterization that will have few Northerners up in arms. Published statistics would make it difficult to argue the point. A
#9 - The Day of the Shelby Cobras June 26, 1963: U.S. President John F. Kennedy pokes Russian Premier Nikita Khrushchev in the eye by telling the world from the steps of the Rathaus Schöneberg in Berlin “Ich bin ein Berliner” (I am a Berliner). Four days later, the following Sunday, Carroll Shelby takes Ferrari to the
#10 - When the Stars are aligned Tell someone that you sold a used racecar for one and a half million dollars, and the reaction will run the gamut from curious disbelief to wide-eyed “shut the f**k up!” amazement, the latter of which was voiced by Barbara, a captivating young lady who managed the bar and
#11 - Cobra in the Trailerpark The year I started the Dragon Snake project I had a day job with Bausch & Lomb in Rochester, New York. Part of my job description called for extensive travel throughout Europe, South America, and the Far East, so calling my occupation a day job might be a stretch. Most of
#12 - From Country Roots to Living the Dream My final Christmas in the fifties in my birth house (the one with the tree and the fence and the sagging roof), and spending quality time with my grandson Karl 30 years later in California, on a beach with a concrete sidewalk and functional stop signs that the city of
