It was 1935. I was 15 years old and lived in Toledo Ohio. Walking to a high school football game on a Friday night, I past a junkyard with an old car out front with a sign that said "For Sale: $5". I had a job setting pins in a bowling alley at night, so the next day I went to the junkyard with $5 and the man sold me the car for that price. No driver's liscense, no insurance, no lights on the car, and I don't even think it had liscense plates.

It was a 1921 Willys Overland. It blew blue smoke out the exhaust. I must have driven that car for at least two years. You had to crank it to start it, so I took the front bumper off to make it easier. On the first Monday that I had the car, a bunch of school buddies and I hopped in and headed off to school. Next to the school was a stop sign. The driver in front of me stopped at the sign, but I couldn't get the Willys to stop. With the bumper off, I drove right into the back end of the car in front of me. My school buddies and spectators had to help pry the cars apart. I had an uncle who repaired cars, and I had to pay him for the repairs to the other vehicle.

After I graduated from high school, I got a job sanding and painting cars in East Toledo. Every morning, I had to drive across the High Level Bridge. The Willys had a tough time getting over the bridge, and it blew smoke all the way from West Toledo to East Toledo and across the Maumee River. I sold it for $10 and bought a 1929 Ford Model A Roadster with a rumble seat for $25.

Bud Pohlman
Metamora, Michigan