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A wired hood and the timed run

Not all things work out the way we’ve planned. When young we are more likely to just “wing it.” As we get older we try to minimize unwanted outcomes, so we prepare. Either way, things don’t always work out the way we want.

This can be OK, provided we use an appropriate scoring system.

A June 1957 Highway Department study recorded a traffic count on Washington Avenue at the west city limits of 4,780 vehicles over a 24-hour period. That’s an average of about three vehicles a minute. This was before the Bagley Street bridge and Walmart. Recently, at this same location, I observed a rate in excess of 4,000 vehicles in just one hour.

So, back in the late ’50s and early ’60s it was relatively easy to find a break in the traffic sufficient to allow a quarter mile run. When such a break occurred, we moved Bob’s ’49 Ford into position at the eastern end of the M-32 straight-of-way running west past the cemeteries.

Perhaps with the old Ford the concept of successfully completing a timed speed run was doomed from the outset — too much could go wrong. A tire or tires could blow as they routinely did — none carried any tread. Normally, this wouldn’t be a problem as we always had two or three spares in the trunk and were expert at changing them but this would never do during a speed run.

The transmission shifting linkage commonly jammed and the battery frequently tipped over. It’s securing bracket had long ago rusted away such that the battery’s cable connections provided its sole source of stability.

But none of these suspects proved to be the culprit.

Bob shifted the transmission into first gear, our trusty Timex wrist watches were synchronized, lookouts issued the all clear, and we were off toward a predetermined quarter mile marker.

We were almost through the run when the hood went up.

The wire used to secure it had failed. Either its gauge wasn’t heavy enough or it had worn to the point it no longer was. Of course, Bob may have done a poor job rewiring after he last opened the hood, probably to reset the battery.

I wish we had logged the elapsed time at the moment of the hood’s inopportune levitation but other concerns intervened demanding our immediate and complete attention.

Bob, unable to see, had nevertheless failed to perceive any need to slow down. He continued at speed but drifted over to the shoulder and took out a couple highway signs before aborting the run. After the Ford came to a stop and things settled, Bob was heard to remark it was a good thing he was driving as any of the rest of us would surely have panicked.

Even though we failed to officially document the old Ford’s sprightliness and had that issue with its hood, we nevertheless considered the run a success

It makes no matter if you are young or old, prepared or just winging it, you can still score these disappointing outcomes in any number of innovative ways. But it’s best to employ a system that has a flexibility factor tailored to your specific needs and failure rate. One that will provide good service over the long term leaving room always for the promise of another day.

I don’t recall the specifics of the scoring system employed on this particular occasion but I’m confident the category, “Experiencing something new and exciting,” was given substantial weight. I doubt the flattened highway signs were factored in.

It was subsequently determined that the gauge of wire securing the hood, in lieu of installing an actual latch, needed to be beefed up.

Better to be prepared, we concluded.

Doug Pugh’s Vignettes run bi-weekly on Tuesdays. He can be reached via email at pughda@gmail.com.

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