I've been thinking about all the cars and motorbikes I have had, write a few of the memories, blah blah blog.
After my Froshman year I went back to Palo Alto and worked for a year. I bought my first vehicle a 1968 Chevy van. This is a photo of Dixon's 1969. I fixed up the back with a desk and a book shelf. A couple of bean bags made it a great place to hang out. I went to a party for vans sponsored by KOME radio station and they placed two huge stickers on both sides of the van. I sold the van in 1977 to get money to go to Europe.
One of the big surprises when I got home was that Brad had a Honda 70 cc. He used it to deliver the papers. Dixon and I both went out and bought motorcycles. Dix bought a Yamaha 350 street bike, a 2 stroke triple. I bought a 1974 Suzuki 400 2 stroke single. This is an ad photo, mine was blue. I rebuilt the engine and that was an interesting experince. Dad remembers that the bike was in pieces most of the year. I remember it being out of comission for a few weeks. The truth may lie somewhere in between.
I was working as a painter for part of the summer. I swapped the owner of a motorcycle shop for new tyres, an expansion chamber and a few other things. The electrical system was a bit flaky and I took the whole harness off and lived without any electrical system for the
rest of the bikes life. One time when the Dumniels and Dix and I rode our bikes over to Half Moon Bay. It was dark by the time we were riding home. I followed the leader and had one or two of the others follow. The winding road was a bit tricky but we made it. I had to sell it before going to Europe in the spring.After going on my mission, I came home to Provo. I bought a 50cc Puch, by Sachs. It was a great little bike. It could carry two, but not up hills. I traded the moped for etching for the Beowulf book. I bought it when I was single and traded it just before we moved to Palo Alto.
When Katy and I were married her parents gave us a 1970 VW bug that her mom had driven for years. It was blue and we really liked it. We used it to move everything we owned to CA in 1983. We had it our there until a large truck went on a death to German car spree and rear ended us on Alma. Mark Dixon was in the back seat when that happened. We were right near our Apartment on Alma. We got it back to the house and there it sat. We moved it to our new house at 426 Matadero. Eventually I sold it for parts, probably in 1985.
We bought a SAAB from a fellow in Moraga, he told us it was a great daily driver and that he had just rebuilt the engine. Wel he had worked on the engine but not fully rebuilt it. It ran all the way to Palo Alto, but just barely. We met him again in small claims court, we won and got our money back.
After the SAAB
