I’m sure that many of you reading this will remember borrowing your Dad’s car. I know one person, Roger Pelletier, who should remember it better than most. The year is 1964 or 1965. Roger and I had our driver’s licenses but we did not have our own cars. Usually we were able to borrow one from one of our Dads.
One evening, Roger and I jumped in his Dad’s car, a 1957 green Ford Fairlane. Off we went to a local shopping center restaurant where there were always some friends hanging out. I have no idea how long we stayed, an hour or two perhaps, because we had to be home by probably nine or ten on a school night.
We headed out into the parking lot, jumped into his dad’s Fairlane and went back to Rogers and turned on the TV. Roger’s Dad came out of the kitchen walked past us as we were lounging on the furniture. He looked out the front window of the living room and said, “Whose car is that in the driveway?” Roger said, “Yours, Dad!” His Dad replied, “Nope, mine’s green!” Immediately we were off the furniture and standing by his Dad. We were looking at a blue 1957 Ford. It had to be a bad dream. Seconds later, we’re out in the driveway and Roger’s Dad gets in the blue car and started it with his key. There were at least two Ford Fairlane’s made in 1957 which were keyed alike and I had the good fortune to sit in two of them.
The three of us, Roger, his Dad and I, headed back to the shopping center. On arrival, there was his Dad’s green Fairlane, parked near the restaurant. We parked the blue one next to it, quietly exited the blue one, jumped in the green and after checking the glove box to make sure it was registered to Mr. Pelletier, off we went.
To this day, I assume that the owner of the blue one is none the wiser.
We were a little more careful in future.
PS) I reached Roger the other day for the first time in twenty years or so using www.classmates.com. He had forgotten this event. I believe his sub-conscious simply suppressed the memory.
