The Ripkin

alright. my second missive with regards to my vehicles and their stories.

this is 'the ripkin,' my 66 GMC van. this picture was taken towards the end of its storied life. i had - once again - cut off the roof and winterized it. (i thought the shingles were a nice touch, although if i had had cedar shakes....)

i took the ripkin to detroit lakes a few times. on one occasion we were driving home from the broken wheel - jerry janzen, now a dentist in saskatoon? - was driving because he was the most..capable. we were on a service road by our hotel and a few of us might have been either on the roof or hanging out the doors. the police cut us off and the state troopers jumped out of their car, the man in charge asking us if, "this was a *&%ing float." we replied that no, it wasn't. jerry, the sober driver was arrested for dangerous driving and i was arrested because i owned the van. i complained that i should not only not be arrested but be commended for realizing i was in no shape to drive but alas it was into the crowbar hotel for me.

i shared the cinder block cell with a young girl from winnipeg who was arrested for playing her ghetto blaster too loudly. she was scared and crying for her folks. i comforted her by putting my arm around her - and was actually thinking about a conjugal hook up. my boys came to bail me out, after 3 hours - apparently they were busy. i ended up using an american express traveller cheque (remember those?) to post bail, which detroit lake's finest forgot to get me to sign so i declared it lost when i got home and was reimbursed.

there are many more stories re: the ripkin and i will continue to post them as the spirit leads.

1974 Volvo aka the Calvin and Hobbes car.

i have been contemplating for some time now to write a book based on the vehicles (read beaters) i, and my friends had when we were younger. most of the stories i remember and pass on to my kids revolve around vehicles.

i think it was mostly because - in the day - vehicles didn't have to be safetied. yes, that meant they were inherently dangerous but what wasn't when we were younger?

so here's my first missive. i encourage anyone who reads this to send me a picture and story surrounding their vehicle of choice. it should be fun.

the above car was a 1974 volvo. i use the term 'was' because it is no longer. it ended up - as most of my vehicles did in the 80's - as a pizza car. a term we coined because, when the vehicle was beyond repair we'd call up the wrecker and the driver would give us a crisp $20 bill for the scrap metal and we'd order a pizza.

i bought this car from a friend of mine - nelson 'nails' olfert. i hadn't intended to buy it but when i was asked to do some stand up comedy in yorkton, saskatchewan just before christmas circa 1988, i didn't have a vehicle with which to get me there. so i asked nails if i could borrow his. i told him i'd pay him $100 if he'd let me use if for the weekend. he said, 'for $100, you can have it.'

so i bought it.

i could bore you with the details of how, to this day, those 4 days in yorkton were the worst days of my life. from the rube-infested 'bbq pit' at which i did my comedy; to the food poisoning i got a bonanza (serves me right, when you can see your reflection in the block of cheese at the salad bar something's wrong.); to the fact that the generator on the car failed an hour outside of yorkton; to my motel room with the misspelled pizza advertising pamphlet; to me doing jokes about escalators and realizing that there was none in yorkton.

but that's not what this is about. it's about cars. and my volvo was a beauty. as you can see by the picture i cut in a moon roof and cut off the back completely - i always wanted a rumble seat.
when it rained i quickly headed into a back alley and looked for an open garage to wait it out in. (i freaked out a house wife once who was taking out the garbage)

one cold day, during the MCA (the annual biggest curling bonspiel in the world) i ran into sev for a slurpee and left the car running. when i came out it was gone. (don't worry, i made it to my game.) i called the cops and reported it stolen. after i described the car to him - brush painted white; calvin and hobbes drawings all over it; roof cut off; the cop asked me whether there were any distinguishing markings on it.

my bro-in-law called me two days later to ask me why my car was parked outside his apt. i took the big orange pumpkin to his place and drove it home. the keys, as well as my hockey equipment, were still in the car.

i have more stories about this car but i want to get the ball rolling. please, submit some stories/pictures to me @ rickloewen@rainyday.ca and i'll add them to this post. it should be fun.

cheers, rick