Tuesday, February 21, 2006
The Day I Bought a Car in Three Forks for $120 – 1973
I was 20 years old and working for the Juvenile Probation Office in Anaconda as a Deputy Probation Officer through the University Year for Action (a branch of VISTA). There were two of us on this project. The Chief Probation Officer (CPO) was fairly innovative and wanted to start a summer camp for kids as kind of a pre-delinquent crime prevention effort. Ed and I were the organizers and counselors. The Probation Office hired a director and later a cook and assistant. Ed and I made up lists of kids based on referrals from Welfare, Social Services, Schools, local Indian Alliance and Probation Records. We didn’t choose any serious offenders, but those who had mainly had statutory violations or indications of potential abuse and neglect or simply needed some extra stimulation. The sessions lasted ten days each and then we had a four day weekend before the next session. Usually we would get together at our apartment with the director to have a little alcohol debriefing after the camping session.
I had a girlfriend in Miles City, the second one since April from there. So anyway after we had been partying for about three or four hours after camp ended I decided I needed to head for Miles City to see Sari. I didn’t have a car then, so I hitchhiked everywhere I needed to go. I left Anaconda feeling no pain about eight and got a ride that took me to the US 287 and I - 90 junction seven miles west of Three Forks. It was dark and there didn’t seem to be anymore rides that night so I lay down just past the third light to sleep for the night. When I woke in the early morning light there was a skunk walking a few feet away. I stayed real still till he passed then decided I would get up and start walking and hope for a ride. Well I made it all the way into Three Forks, but no ride. About that time I was getting desperate as I only had four days and wanted to get to Miles and back. So I walked into the local Chevy dealer and asked if he had any cheap cars. I had a little more than a hundred dollars in my bank back in Anaconda. The dealer said he had a ’64 Chevy that he could let me have for $120. It was just like the 64 Biscayne my dad had when I was in the fifth grade. It was even the same color of blue. I said deal, he said it needed a little work to make it drive able, but he could fix it. Well we were still there about two in the afternoon. The shifter was mounted on the column and it didn’t always engage when you tried to shift. He got it to work somewhat and I was ready to go. I asked him if I could have an “in-transit” or temporary sticker. He said he couldn’t give me one. (Maybe he had lost his used dealer license?) He told me to just go into Bozeman and get plates. Well I headed out, but figured maybe I would be okay with out the plates. The freeway was all complete except for Big Timber. When you got there you had to drive through the city.
Well I passed the gas station and store on the west side of town and who did I see driving the opposite direction except for the Town Marshall. He was behind a line of three or four cars so he couldn’t turn around right away, but he turned on his lights. I just kept on going and when I passed the turnoff to Harlowtown and the A & W, there was a big bend in the road. I knew a girl that lived down that street so I turned off the main highway and went down that street. I think I made the turn before the Marshall saw me turn as he didn’t follow me down the street. I asked Sheryl if I could park the car there and get it later. She said fine, so I resumed my hitchhike and made Miles City that night.
Turns out, the girl there had decided a long distance relationship wasn’t worth it. I camped out in Miles city and turned around and headed back towards Big Timber and Anaconda. I picked up the car and right away began to have more problems with the shifter. It just wouldn’t work very well at all. So I pulled over in Livingston and looked up a friend there that was working there at the P.O. on the same program I was on. He let me spend the night and I cut a hole in the floor board to try to get at the shifter mechanism and was able to shift gears somewhat with the use of a Vise Grips. Well, I made it to Homestake outside of Butte and didn’t shift in time and killed the engine about halfway up the hill. I left the car there and hitched into Butte. I thought about calling a wrecker, but didn’t have any money so that was out. I hitched a ride back to Anaconda. In the morning Kenny our other roommate, who worked for Adult Parole and Probation and was a UYA volunteer also, took me back to Homestake. We got the car started and shifted into a low enough gear to get it over the pass. We made it back to Anaconda where I purchased a Hurst Mystery Shifter (it was a mystery it ever shifted). Kenny and I put this on and decided to take it for a spin down Park and back up Commercial. Well I had just rounded the Buttrey’s parking lot and headed back on Commercial when I heard a noise. The car quit. We figured out something had broken in the rear end. It was Sunday night and I had to go back to camp on Monday, so I just left the car there.
When I came back ten days later, Kenny said some guy had been trying to get a hold of me about my car, but wouldn’t say what the problem was. I called him and he came over. It turns out his boyfriend had just bought a new car and he was taking it for a spin down Park and back up Commercial and when he headed back up Commercial he rear-ended my car and totaled it out. He said the insurance company had looked at my car and offered me $135 for it. I accepted the money. Later we went to the wrecking yard to see if they would allow me to remove the shifter kit I had just bought and let Kenny get his tools out of the car. They did and several days later I was able to buy a ’61 Cadillac from the Anaconda Ford dealer for $115.
I was 20 years old and working for the Juvenile Probation Office in Anaconda as a Deputy Probation Officer through the University Year for Action (a branch of VISTA). There were two of us on this project. The Chief Probation Officer (CPO) was fairly innovative and wanted to start a summer camp for kids as kind of a pre-delinquent crime prevention effort. Ed and I were the organizers and counselors. The Probation Office hired a director and later a cook and assistant. Ed and I made up lists of kids based on referrals from Welfare, Social Services, Schools, local Indian Alliance and Probation Records. We didn’t choose any serious offenders, but those who had mainly had statutory violations or indications of potential abuse and neglect or simply needed some extra stimulation. The sessions lasted ten days each and then we had a four day weekend before the next session. Usually we would get together at our apartment with the director to have a little alcohol debriefing after the camping session.
I had a girlfriend in Miles City, the second one since April from there. So anyway after we had been partying for about three or four hours after camp ended I decided I needed to head for Miles City to see Sari. I didn’t have a car then, so I hitchhiked everywhere I needed to go. I left Anaconda feeling no pain about eight and got a ride that took me to the US 287 and I - 90 junction seven miles west of Three Forks. It was dark and there didn’t seem to be anymore rides that night so I lay down just past the third light to sleep for the night. When I woke in the early morning light there was a skunk walking a few feet away. I stayed real still till he passed then decided I would get up and start walking and hope for a ride. Well I made it all the way into Three Forks, but no ride. About that time I was getting desperate as I only had four days and wanted to get to Miles and back. So I walked into the local Chevy dealer and asked if he had any cheap cars. I had a little more than a hundred dollars in my bank back in Anaconda. The dealer said he had a ’64 Chevy that he could let me have for $120. It was just like the 64 Biscayne my dad had when I was in the fifth grade. It was even the same color of blue. I said deal, he said it needed a little work to make it drive able, but he could fix it. Well we were still there about two in the afternoon. The shifter was mounted on the column and it didn’t always engage when you tried to shift. He got it to work somewhat and I was ready to go. I asked him if I could have an “in-transit” or temporary sticker. He said he couldn’t give me one. (Maybe he had lost his used dealer license?) He told me to just go into Bozeman and get plates. Well I headed out, but figured maybe I would be okay with out the plates. The freeway was all complete except for Big Timber. When you got there you had to drive through the city.
Well I passed the gas station and store on the west side of town and who did I see driving the opposite direction except for the Town Marshall. He was behind a line of three or four cars so he couldn’t turn around right away, but he turned on his lights. I just kept on going and when I passed the turnoff to Harlowtown and the A & W, there was a big bend in the road. I knew a girl that lived down that street so I turned off the main highway and went down that street. I think I made the turn before the Marshall saw me turn as he didn’t follow me down the street. I asked Sheryl if I could park the car there and get it later. She said fine, so I resumed my hitchhike and made Miles City that night.
Turns out, the girl there had decided a long distance relationship wasn’t worth it. I camped out in Miles city and turned around and headed back towards Big Timber and Anaconda. I picked up the car and right away began to have more problems with the shifter. It just wouldn’t work very well at all. So I pulled over in Livingston and looked up a friend there that was working there at the P.O. on the same program I was on. He let me spend the night and I cut a hole in the floor board to try to get at the shifter mechanism and was able to shift gears somewhat with the use of a Vise Grips. Well, I made it to Homestake outside of Butte and didn’t shift in time and killed the engine about halfway up the hill. I left the car there and hitched into Butte. I thought about calling a wrecker, but didn’t have any money so that was out. I hitched a ride back to Anaconda. In the morning Kenny our other roommate, who worked for Adult Parole and Probation and was a UYA volunteer also, took me back to Homestake. We got the car started and shifted into a low enough gear to get it over the pass. We made it back to Anaconda where I purchased a Hurst Mystery Shifter (it was a mystery it ever shifted). Kenny and I put this on and decided to take it for a spin down Park and back up Commercial. Well I had just rounded the Buttrey’s parking lot and headed back on Commercial when I heard a noise. The car quit. We figured out something had broken in the rear end. It was Sunday night and I had to go back to camp on Monday, so I just left the car there.
When I came back ten days later, Kenny said some guy had been trying to get a hold of me about my car, but wouldn’t say what the problem was. I called him and he came over. It turns out his boyfriend had just bought a new car and he was taking it for a spin down Park and back up Commercial and when he headed back up Commercial he rear-ended my car and totaled it out. He said the insurance company had looked at my car and offered me $135 for it. I accepted the money. Later we went to the wrecking yard to see if they would allow me to remove the shifter kit I had just bought and let Kenny get his tools out of the car. They did and several days later I was able to buy a ’61 Cadillac from the Anaconda Ford dealer for $115.
