It began when I saw it on the side of the road near Medford, Mass during my freshman year of college. Mr. Marvin Rosen (who claims to be a former automotive ethics professional!) sold me the car (and gave me my first knish).
8
hours after the car was sold, the car wouldn't start.
My friends soothed my agitated spirits by taking me to a concert near
campus - which happened to be opened by a little band, "Bedlam
Rover".
Instantly, the vehicle had a name (and a mechanical reputation).
Day 1 - Fall 1993
That's Tim Fallon behind the wheel
Martha Carleton looks on - Tim is making 'driving'
noises in the front seat.
Bruce Fowler telling me how to change my "U-joint".
Though Marvin got the car to start pretty quickly, it became clear that this car was going to require a complete set of tools and some basic understanding of mechanics.
Enter Bruce Fowler. Bruce discovered me in my first days at Colby College, where I had transferred in the fall of 1995. Bruce was aghast at my mechanical ignorance and became my mechanical mentor.
He put me on a strict 3,000-mile-oil-changing regime. He insisited that I look after some developing rust spots - and I once caught him painting part of my rear door. "It looks shabby!" he said,
Bruce also showed me a little something about the local wildlife.
Black flies devouring the apprentice mechanic
Rush and Bruce on the Munk Road
He also showed me how to off-road in his "backyard."
In Maine - this can mean just about anything - and in Bruce's case, it was miles and miles of road with puddles deep enough to trap fleets of "idiot blue Chevys".
Betty summered in Westford Vermont, home of Rovers North.
(I am told there is a bronze plaque with my credit card number over one
of their garage doors.)
It was at Rovers North that my hood blew off the car after a mechanic failed to secure it completely.
And it was at Rovers North where I celebrated my 21 birthday, taking an offroad driving class with my dad while mechanics did a mini-tune up. (A successful one apparently, because I was pulled over in Gorham, NH on my way back from the weekend - doing 31 MPH in a 25 zone. The cop asked if I was trying to "kill Gorham children" Ans: "No.")
Rick and Rush Hambleton at driving school.