In Feb '65 my best friend, Gary, turned 16. His grandad gave him a pristine '56 Crown Vic Sunliner, Coral(pinkish)and White--it still had the plastic on the door panels and back seat from the factory, less than 5,000 mi. Wasn't long before Gary reversed the rear spring shackles, giving the a$$end up look, pulled off the stock mufflers and put on cheap glaspaks. discarded the hupcaps, painted the rims gloss back blacked out the wide whitewalls and put on "Baby Moons". Then he put those twist in blocks in the front coils, as many as he could---now the car rode like a lumber wagon:0, steering was difficult 'cuz it wandered. He also added a cheap Kraco 8-track and a pair of 5x9 speakers, best sound system any of us had.
For a high school kid it was "a bitchin ride " in the mid '60's in small town Colorado. I don't remember the engine size maybe a 292, but it was fairly fast, even with the automatic(of course in our "esteemed knowledge" only a manual, floor mounted 4-spd was truly fast and really "bitchin". Gary, would constantly rev the engine in neutral then drop it into low, impressive tire squeal, a loud thunk/clunk, and off he'd go.

Fast forward to late Aug '65-- Labor Day weekend, summers over, school starts on Tuesday, our senior year. We decided to have a party at Seeleys Lake on Sat. night. We had a small bonfire, beer, food, a warm evening,friends and girlfriends, a great view to the mountains to the west as the sun went down...perfect. Gary parked his car close to the fire and cranked up the tunes and he had a ton of tapes.
Awhile later we noticed the tapes were starting to drag....Gary's battery was going down. He jumped into the car, got it started, started the old generator charging the battery. Being the "knowledgeable" gearheads we were we suggested he keep the engine revved up to charge faster...Gary goes "OK" finds a rock and places it on the accelerator pedal...We're all having a great time.... THUNK,CLUNK and Garys '56 is spinning its wheels and going like a demon...straight for the lake...over the bank ... and splash.. into the water about 5 ft from shore into about 6' of water. I'll never forget the song playing on the 8-track, Beach Boys-"No Go Showboat"...and how it sort of just faded away as the water rose.

There was no way we were going to get the car out of the lake. Gary just knew his dad would kill him but we eventually went back to town and Gary called, finally, after a lot persuading, his dad. Slim met us out there in awhile,he was pissed off(it was around 11 pm), he looked at the car, looked at us, muttered something that I think was "ya stupid young dumb s#its", he told us to stay there and left. Awhile later here comes Slim with a tow truck in tow.... he's really pissed off(Slim always seemed pissed off but he had different degrees of "pissed off") . Slim never said a word to us...the tow truck driver managed to get Gary's car out.
They took off and left the two of us standing there. Gary just knew he'd catch livn' he!! when he got home. We drove around for awhile, I told him he could stay at my house, but he said no and I drove him home.
Gary called me the next day...I was expecting the worst news... he told me everything was cool. He said when he walked in the door he expected the worst...his Dad was sitting in the kitchen with a bottle of JD in front of him, looked at Gary and told him to sit down. Gary then said his dad just shook his head and started laughing, told Gary that it was ok, kids need to learn by their mistakes and Gary "by GOD learned his" that night...then told him to get a glass and he poured him a drink of JD. Gary also had to pay Slim back for the tow charge of $500 dollars(why Slim was pissed off at the lake).



Insurance totaled the '56 and after Gary payed his Dad back for the tow about Dec. Slim helped Gary buy a '57 Chevy convertible... and told him he didn't need to pay him back for the loan...Great Christmas gift!
I should say that Slim was a product of the Depression, a hard scrabble farm raised man that had children way later in life than most, he wasn't violent to his kids, but the belt or a slap or two was not uncommon. And Gary could be real a hellion, the youngest of three and the only one still at home.

We used reminice about this incident when we would get together over the years...and laugh. Sadly, Gary passed away a couple years ago and I knew him since the 7th grade.We shared a lot of memories over the ensuing years