Dr. George (Fishbeck former weather caster in LA area) Memorial Car Show 2-9-13

[57AGIN]

Guys:

After seeing all the weather troubles on TV and reading the thread in General Discussion , I'm kind of ashamed to even post this.  However, most of the guys on this site are smart enough to keep their 57's safe at home in a garage when the weather gets bad.  Not me, LOL!!!  On Friday I was traveling to a somewhat local car show here in Southern California, being held out in Indian Wells right next to Palm Springs and Indio (both known for their year round good/hot weather.  I knew my 57 would get rained on a bit, but heck it won't shrink and it's pretty easy to detail off a little road grime.  So I decided what the heck, my wife and I can stay with some friends out in Palm Desert and the car can spend the night at the car show venue a few miles away.  Well I'm driving along and sure enough the weather gurus were right, we got some rain in Southen California.  No big deal, I have the electric 2-speed windshield wipers and they work pretty good.  When I get out to where the 10 and 60 freeways meet I entered the Beaumont/Banning pass and yes it was raining pretty good, then my front window starts fogging up so I turn on my dealer installed cheapie heater/defroaster.  This just seems to make it worse, by adding some warm moist air to the windshield, so I crack the driver wind vent, this helps a bit and I motor on with the freeway traffic at about 65 mph.  No problem as my tires are new and have plenty of tread to deal with the water on the road.  Then a few miles further on I notice ice crystals forming in the area between the windshield wipers at the base of the front windshield.  A mile or so further on I notice ice chunks falling down from the roof edge onto the wiper blades and sure enough, having lived in Idaho when I was in the Navy I recognized that I was driving through a mix of rain, sleet and some snow.  But this is Southern California and everyone knows it never snows in Palm Springs,  Well at least it didn't this time, because about 10 miles further on the sun came out the clouds disappeared and Palm Springs was just ahead. 

Anyway, the car show was great the next day 70 degrees and clear Sky's, I sat all day next to one of the original Ford Drag Team Drivers, Mr. Ed Terry, driver of the Shelby Dragon Snake back in 1963 and the Quarter Horse B/FX Mustang and on into the Pro-Stock era in an SOHC  Maverick.  It was fascinating listening to his stories about the racing many of which I saw when I was going to Lions  and Pomona Drags back in the early and mid 60's (before being swallowed up by the military).  One of his many friends stopped by to talk for a while, do any of you remember "Wild" Bill Shrewsberry?  He used to drive the Hemi Under Glass and a couple of Ford drag cars, too.  My day was really made when another guy stopped by, not to talk to Mr. Terry, but to check out my 57, he spent some time looking at the engine compartment, the interior and walked around the car a couple of times checking out the paint.  I didn't recognize him, but Mr. Terry introduced me to Sam Foose, Chip's dad.   That was quite a proud moment for me.  Later I received one of the 42 trophy's awarded.  So driving through the rain and sleet was definitely worth it.

Bob
57 AGIN

[robhaerr]

Glad to read you got a trophy, nods from Mr Foose....and most importantly...NO HAIL DAMAGE on your fresh paintjob!

[Ford Blue blood]

Great story Bob!  Well done.....Idaho....Nuc?  Bubble head or skimmer?

[57AGIN]

Ford Blue Blood:

Nuc Electrician.  I spent over 3 years of my enlistment in Idaho teaching Nuc Electricians, Machinest Mates, Electronic Technicians and Officers how to operate the S1W Nautilus nuclear power plant.  It was good duty, great for a newly wed sailor.  Unfortunately, when I got to my first boat, SSN 621 Haddock following sub school, I only had 10 months left to do on my 6 year hitch.  The boat went into the yards over in Pearl and I never qualified to be a "Bubble Head." In my 6 years in the Navy I only went to sea for 2 months on the Sub Tender Sperry and 2 weekly ops (dive on Monday, surface on Friday & return to Pearl).  So this 1st Class Electrician never qualified to be a true "Bubble Head." Bummer, but I'm glad I served.  I learned so much and it gave me a foundation for my life.  Rickover's program was really great.

Bob
57 AGIN

[Ford Blue blood]

I tried to be a "Nuc" but in 1965 you couldn'd be "blind" like I was.  Had top marks with GCT/ARI but had to be 20/200 correctable to 20/20....I was 20/400 corrected to 20/20 so I became an electronics technician (ETR).  The eye thing prevented me from applying to NECEP as well, when they lifted the eye restrictions I was too old for anything but LDO/CWO.  But as things went I did a 30 year stint, made Senior, got commisioned and retired as a CWO-4 Elec Tech.  18 years of sea duty, best tour was Electronics Material Officer on board USS Wisconsin BB-64.

[57AGIN]

Ford Blue Blood:

That's interesting, I thought about staying in because I wasn't sure how I'd be able to support my wife & 2 kids when I got out.  However, I knew I was looking at 14 years of sea duty on the nucs and Being on a fast attack nuc I could expect 6 to 9 months on each deployment and when in port I'd be doing port & starboard duty back aft with the nucs, while the forward crew would be in 6 section liberty.  It just was not a life for a family man, yeah I know she wasn't issued in my sea bag so it would have been just too bad, but I couldn't do that to her and the kids.  No wonder why so many nucs got out after just one hitch and the divorce rate was higher than any other branch of the service.  But we sure did eat good when in port, steak & lobster every Friday.  lol

By the way, Rick Crawford's dad & grandpa were both Pearl Harbor survivors who were stationed on the West Virginia during the attack on Pearl Harbor.  Rick's dad was a big time Gunners Mate (I think) who served most of his career on the big battle wagons (to "Bubble Heads those floating gun platforms were just big targets, lol).  Rick's dad was one of the survivors who started the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association and Rick was a long time honorary member serving as Treasurer for several of the LA area chapters as the survivors themselves aged and needed assistance in keeping the books straight.

Bob
57 AGIN

[gasman826]

Being an Army boy and not seeing much water and know jack about boats but had Navy uncles and cousins...I thought the battleships were numbered in order but historians call the Missouri the last battleship.  The Wisconsin is #64 and the Missouri #63?  Enlighten me, please.

[Ford Blue blood]

Wisconsin was the "last battleship", it was commisioned after the Mighty Mo but the Missouri was the last in service, WI was decommed before the MO was.  Some historians play losely with the timing thing.

WI had a little known thing going, it was a couple inches longer the the rest of the Iowa class.  The ship had a collision with another vessel, instead of rebuilding the damaged bow section the Navy took the bow section off the Kentucky (started but not completed before the war ended) and put it on the WI.

[gasman826]

Was there two or three that were started?  The war ended.  So the worked stopped with the keels laid.
The carrier battle fleet had proven itself and the battleships were history.

[Ford Blue blood]

I believe the Kentucky was the only battleship under construction when the war ended.  It's propulsion systems were turned into fast fleet oilers (Detroit, Seattle, Camden and I forget the last of the four), the bow was put on WI and the rest of it was scrapped.  Yup carriers became the hot new thing for Naval warfare.  All four of the Iowa were recommisioned during the Reagan years with the WI and MO used in the Gulf War.  Their demise was the man power required to make them go.  Each of the three 16" turrets required 47 men, the eight 5" 38s required 27 men, each of the eight boilers required 12 men per four hour watch.

But enough, I could go on a long time with this Navy talk....and we did a good job of hijacking this thread!

[RICH MUISE]

Back to the original post..then off on another tangent....Bob, you had me worried halfway thru your opening paragraph with the fogged up windshield on the freeway..thought you were leading up to something bad about to happen. Sounds like a great show. I guess it was your cap that got Gary off on the Navy stuff..I on the otherhand was trying to figure out what the trophy object was (spark plug?),whether or not that was Rosie the Bitch handing it to you,looking at the great fit and finish around your door posts, and that huge smile on your face.
When did we lose Dr. George? Loved that crazy old coot. I remember the 70's socal newscasters like it was yesterday. "from the desert to the sea...." and that gorgeous blonde whose name is on the tip of my tongue..probably my all time favorite news anchor person....think she retired when she got pregnant. hmmm..gonna have to do some googling. I'm not talking about Kelly Lange
Found it..Christine Lund! good...that was driving me nuts. CRS acting up again.

[RICH MUISE]

LOL..man, I can sure kill a thread.

[57 Ford Kustom]

Rich,
   For those of us that were in a different branch of service (Army for me) it was all greek ! Interesting but still Greek to me!
Tim