KF judging at 5 AM at Texline rest stop...

Take a look at that great pic. Every time I look at it I am reminded of some memorable trips out West—either for camping and fishing in Yellowstone country or for more “mundane” activities. Nearly always we stopped at the Texline rest area (at the border between TX and NM) on 87 especially if we were headed out to the West rather than returning home. This pic was snapped by me early one morning as the sun was coming up at the rest stop. I can't be sure which trip it was.

One trip we were headed to Ouray for the 1985 national KF meet. I was in my 54 Late Special and the Stradt boys were in Larry's 52 Kaiser. Both cars had Chevy V8 engines and have been discussed in various articles in the Quarterly before. In fact the very first issue that I edited featured details of the V8 conversion. The 54 made its first road trip to the 1984 national KF meet in Pigeon Forge, TN. This was also the first national I ever attended.

The 54 had been found not far from Nacogdoches and the seller was motivated so I bought it. The car had been subjected to an amateur restoration and looked pretty good but in need of some attention. We got it to run well enough to get inspection so I could get the AR title transferred to TX but the engine was leaking oil badly. So, it was ready for the transplant. Fortunately Tom Stradt was willing and able to provide his mechanical skills and I mostly was the boss and beer wrangler.

The interior looked good since it had been redone but was not original materials. It suited me since I had no plans for the car other than to be a driver.

Anyway here is the scene at the rest area for our stop on the way to Ouray. We got there some time after midnight and pulled in to take a snooze. I decided the back seat of the 54 would make a nice area to stretch out. I soon found that with one door closed and the other open I could use the arm rest of the closed door as sort of a pillow. After some time I woke up and decided it was time to switch positions and put my head in the other direction. It was then that I noted a problem. Get out the judging sheet! No arm rest! Funny how you can overlook something like that until you really need it...

I never got around to finding another arm rest but that 54 provided a lot of fun over the years as many trips to KF events were made in it. Some time back I sold the car to a club member and he has been updating it.

Cattle Roundup on US 75--Saddle the Kaiser

Our 51 Kaiser had been around 100 thousand miles by the time of the event of this tale and it showed it. But it still provided a way for me and my brother to get to school or take a drive to town for the "picture show" as we called it in those days.

It must have been in 1954 when we were living on US 75 a few miles north of Conroe, Texas. We had been to town for the show and were coming home. It was dark and raining slowly. The highway was dark as well. As we headed down the hill near a cafe/beer joint it happened. Boom! We hit a cow on the butt with the right front fender and on the rebound with the right rear quarter panel. The situation was made worse by the fact the cow was black. Luckily we were not going very fast because of the conditions. At the time US 75 was one of the busiest highways in Texas as it was the main connection between Houston and Dallas. Now Interstate 45 has supplanted it.

We were able to get on home with one headlight pointing at a weird angle. My brother and I were not hurt but got a big scare. When we told my Dad what had happened he immediately wanted to go check on the cow. The reason was at that time there was an open range law that essentially made the driver of the car responsible for any harm to the damn cow! Remember this happened in Texas. Well the cow was gone and we never heard what her fate was.

The Kaiser got patched up with a used fender from a black car (not a good match for the Horizon blue color of car) which was not a lot better than the wrecked fender but at least the headlight pointed in the right direction.

Some time later I recall my Dad arranged for a salesman from the KF dealer in Houston to bring out a 54 Kaiser Manhattan for him to consider. In all likelihood I probably hounded him to consider a new car even though I probably knew he could not afford one. I guess they were like most KF dealers at the time and were going to extremes to try to sell cars. It was like a 50+ mile drive from Houston. I remember how beautiful the car was--it was a maroon shade on bottom and beige on top. Well at the time my Dad was unable to afford the car. He was operating a cafe which was on its last legs. Not too long after he was out of the cafe business and somehow was able to finance a 55 Plymouth which turned out to be a disaster. The V8 equipped car was fast but a piece of junk. I think my Dad may have parked it in the dealer's drive in the dark of night and abandoned the payments at some point.

We had an assortment of used cars after that with most coming from the "back row" of Houston car lots. But the 51 was our last Kaiser until I bought a 51 of my own almost 30 years later. I have not driven it in a long time but when I do I will look out for cattle on the road.

I did manage to hit a dog with a Volvo in 1970 late at night when returning from a trip to Austin but still was able to make it home with the grill up against the radiator. Another time a friend and I had borrowed a camper trailer from my brother and were heading home from the coast to Nacogdoches at night and ended up playing "tag" with a horse's ass (a real one). My friend was driving his Ford station wagon and the horse ended up turning every way we did as it ran ahead of the car. We avoided any serious damage.