chapter 374
2/22/2015
the Machine Gene
9 years old and driving
Boys love machines, among other things, it's in their genes. Cuz Joanie here sent this photo to Melissa recently. Bro Dale standing on the running boards, I'm sitting on the bed railing. Cuz Mikey likely took with a brownie cam. Date: August 1954. Place: Virgil- we just drove back of our house on the dirt "race track" we used to get to Pete's Pond to go swimming. We drove this 1937 Ford V8 flathead half ton pickup truck and a variety of jalopies around. I was 9 and Dale 11. We didn't let the cousins drive too much, but they were learning to drive so we taught them when they came down from Buffalo for a Summer week visit. Dad wanted us to be independent and we took to it. The toughest part was stretching my neck up to see the wooden bridge deck (no railing) over the creek to go from our house to out back.
Mostly I was intrigued by the truck in the top picture (like my grandson). Took a bit to decipher. I remember Grandpa taking us in the back of his pickup truck to Stewart Park for a swim in Cayuga Lake. Aunt Carol and Dick Matson confirmed Hayden would put the Matson kids in the back of the truck when they visited friends Hazzard and Laverne Adams and swam at the State Park in Chenango Forks . Also we used it to pick potatoes and deliver wooden crates of them to Cortland bars through the back alleys. Think that is the same vehicle.
Asking Dale about the truck, he said with a twinkle in his voice. "Think it came through Larry Bristol to our buddy Tom Saltsman. Dale bought it. Wasn't running at first but we hooked up a glass jar of gas with a hose to the carburetor and I sat on the front fender as Dale drove it to our house a half mile away." Tom who was 5 years older, could not verify that version of history at all. I thought Dale removed the doors, hood, front fenders and grill to look more cool. Traded or sold it back and forth to chicken farmer neighbor a few times.
This is our neighbor Pete taking chicken feed back to the range chickens with the same truck. It's from 8mm movie frame Sprockets to Rockets video in Chapter 185. That captures some of the Olmsted insanity. We rammed around this and bunches of other odd Nash Rambler, Studebaker Night Hawk, Model A Ford, etc, etc all around the back fields up the valley dirt road. Always baldy tires, dead batteries, low on gas and various mechanical bits needing fixing. We learned driving techniques and mechanics like transmission linkage angles way before school learning trigonometry.
There are 3 keys to identifying our truck to be the same as this beautiful 1937 resto-rod for $30,000 from eBay in Missouri. We had the 2 inch 90 degree curved raised bed embellishment behind Dale's hand and the extra rolled lip on the fender below my foot putting it in the 1935-1937 range and we also had the crucial split windshield that came out in 1937. Now I think I remember looking out thru the blurry side as Dale drove in the rain.
Lucas Dozer Video captures machine instinct gene built into male (Olmsted) DNA from early age.
Lucas' Mom Melissa, 8- 1/2 from right also carries another Olmsted gene that runs in the family, that of teaching:
LOUDONVILLE — In between Tuesday’s boys and girls games at the Shenendehowa-Shaker varsity basketball doubleheader at Siena College, athletes from both schools’ teams took the time to recognize some of their favorite teachers.
The ceremony was a happy one for the 26 Shenendehowa athletes, and not just because it was sandwiched between 81-46 and 59-50 victories for the Plainsmen. Hugs and smiles were in abundance from the Plainsmen players for their teachers, whom the athletes said had touched their lives.
Each student was able to pick one teacher to bring to the games, and most had no trouble coming up with his or her selection.
Amanda Lee, a senior for the Shenendehowa girls squad, went back to her fifth-grade teacher, Ryan Kilgallon, for her selection. Lee had Kilgallon at Arongen Elementary School, and said her pick was an easy one.
“He was always so energetic and so much fun every day,” said Lee. “But, at the same time, he taught me so many things. The whole class loved him. He was a role model for everyone.”
Erin Hulbert, a senior for the Shenendehowa girls squad, remembered playing hoops with Kevin Czelusniak at Chango Elementary School. Czelusniak taught Hulbert in the first and fifth grades, and the senior said she was lucky to have the teacher twice.
“He was just an awesome guy,” Hulbert said.
Shenendehowa teacher Anne Moore, left, receives a hug from Plainsmen senior Matt Alverson (who lost his mother to lung cancer) during a ceremony in between Tuesday’s basketball games in Loudonville at Siena College. (Michael Kelly/Gazette Reporter)
Shenendehowa athletic director Chris Culnan said the idea behind Tuesday night’s ceremony was to allow some of the district’s students to say “Thank you” to their teachers.
“This is a good way to publically remind people that teachers make a tremendous impact in the lives of kids every day,” he said. “To have these students recognize these teachers shows that every day in Shenendehowa — and Shaker, and across the country — teachers are making an impact in the lives of their students.”
The idea, Culnan said, was not for the night’s ceremony to be a political statement about the importance of teachers. But, he said, in a time in which education has become a political issue, Tuesday night’s ceremony was a welcome reprieve.
“It’s tough to be a teacher right now because people want to tell you you’re not doing a good job,” he said. “My belief is they’re doing a good job every day.”
Jenny Pfaffenbach, a high school social studies teacher, received selections from three Plainsmen: junior Petar Bebic, junior Carly Boland, and sophomore Mike Pizziketti. Pfaffenbach said it was an honor to be recognized by the kids.
“I got into teaching to find people that make me a better person. Students always drive me to learn more, be better, think harder, try harder,” she said. “The three that recognized me tonight are phenomenal kids that I love like they’re my own children.”
Pfaffenbach joked the three students that selected her were all guaranteed top marks. But the joke, she said, was that the kids needed any help in the classroom.
“They’re all remarkable scholar-athletes,” she said. “The work ethic involved with being exceptional on the court transfers to being exceptional in the classroom.”
Pizziketti said he had picked Pfaffenbach for her help outside the classroom, too.
“She’s not like any other teacher,” he said. “She helps you with your life problems and your school problems.”
There was some fun had with the selections, too. Luke Hicks, a sophomore for the Plainsmen boys, picked Acadia Middle School’s Lori Koopman after receiving some advice from Koopman’s son, Josh Koopman, an assistant coach for the Plainsmen.
“You better choose wisely,” Hicks said Josh Koopman told him.
But Lori Koopman was always going to be Hicks’ pick, anyway. The sophomore had her for sixth-grade social studies, and it was his favorite class.
“I really looked forward to going to her class,” he said, “and, sometimes, I dread going to certain classes.”
Hicks said he thought the teacher enjoyed having him around, too.
“I may have caused a bit of trouble in her class, but I think she liked me,” he said.
Other Shenendehowa teachers recognized at Tuesday’s ceremony were Stephanie Buono, Tim Conley, Tammy Crump, Kevin Drown, Ben Early, Eileen Hall, Christine Kelly, Robert Keyser, Jenn Lieber, Monica Macro, Chris Mars, Anne Moore, Krystal Moore, Melissa Olmsted (on right), Dave Reynolds, Kristina Saddlemire, and Jodi Werner.
Gazette Link . Melissa was chosen by both a girl and a boy player.
Shen won the NYS class AA state championship over Brentwood at Glens Falls. We went to the NYS Federation championship tournament at SUNY Albany where Shen lost by 9 to NYC power Wings Academy. Their Georgetown bound 6-11 Jesse Govan was stymied to 3 points by our multiple swarming physical big men. However their smooth Hofstra bound Desure Buie threw in 25 to seal the deal. Shen's well coached excellent team concept served them well in their 25-1 overall record. Wings went on to win the championship over Christ the King the following night.
Best interior shot I found. The starter button on the left replaced the starter foot pedal beginning in 1937. More often than not we pushed it by hand and popped the clutch to start as our batteries were usually dead. The three speed shift lever was long but it was a relatively short throw as I recall. Our shift knob was more oval appearing just in front of Joanie at the top. Parking brake to the right straight vertical lever- never worked. Center chrome lever on dash believe was to pull for hood air scoop for winter ventilation. More ventilation for summer by unlocking short black lever at lower right and left windshield then push glass out a few inches. A single vacuum wiper motor at top of windshield. Manual choke lever for one barrel carburetor and headlight pull switch at center dash. Heater below dash right. Turn signal mounted to steering column. Tabs on horn ring just decorative as spark retard for starting had become built into the distributor. Brake master cylinder below floor mat. The V8 flathead ran nice. "You couldn't kill that truck," Dale fondly remembered.
Thought Dad cut a section of the grill turned upside down to use on the nose of this home made 88 vehicle. However, it doesn't match the 1937 grill. I drove this briefly before outgrowing and it became Bill's.
Imagine 1937 . Such a piece of history just after the Depression with FDR President, Hindenburg Zeppelin disaster, Earhart disappears, Disney's first movie. Dad still in high school. Recently Aunt Carol mentioned Gpa had a 1937 Reo 3 Ton Truck Chapter 45. I drove a Reo in Chapter 28 but didn't know about the connection at that time. REO Speedwagon took it's name from the 1904 company which began the era of pick up trucks. R.E. Olds was the founder who also produced cars which became Oldsmobile. My son drives one today, the last of an extinct brand.
The 1935-36 Fords are actually nicer looking.
1935 Rat rod $14,000 about the cheapest could find. Most $20,000+
1936 $29,000 + ebay very stock
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