A Sad Day For Me and the 55 – by Brent

Growing up in Rexburg was a good place to be for me and my family.  It was just the right size and provided many opportunities because of the surroundings we were in.  My father had purchased a 1955 Chevy Bel Air for us to use to get around.  It was a great car with plenty of room for friends.  We had replaced the muffler with a glass pack and it gave the car a nice deep throaty sound.  One afternoon two of my friends and I were riding in the 55 Chevy out to Lyman to drop someone off or pick someone up, I can’t remember which.  Both Vernon Benson and Lane Arnold lived in Lyman.  I was driving the 55 Chevy and it knew the way very well and had traveled the path many times.  This afternoon we had just turned the corner by the old Erickson Pontiac lot on 4^th South where the round-about is now located.  The old turn used to be a sweeping curve where you didn’t have to yield and could maintain your speed.  In between this sweeping curve and the next on the Yellowstone Highway is where it all happened.  I remembered that we had forgotten something and we needed to go home and get it and home was in the opposite direction.  It was time to execute the 180 degree bat-turn.  In the late sixties there was a short lived television series called, Batman.  It was a corny show and it had some elementary special effects.  One thing that Batman had was the Bat-mobile.  It was a car that could turn on a dime changing direction instantaneously.  These changes in direction were called Bat-turns.  The only difference between the Bat-mobile and the 55 Chevy was one was on television and the other was not.  Executing a Bat-turn would require perfect execution.  Basically we would be making a u-turn without reducing our speed much.  I checked the rear view mirror and all was clear.  I swerved slightly to the right leaving the asphalt and cranked the steering wheel hard to the left.  I needed a little more room to make the u-turn because this was being done without special effects.  All was going well.  I began crossing over the paved portion of the road.  Then it happened – an old mustang, driven by Jared Shaver, crashed into the side of the 55 Chevy.  He had come around the curve and had picked up quite a bit of speed – like speeding.  In his defense, I am sure he had no idea that he was about to witness a bat-turn.  I felt terrible – I had been foolish.  The driver side front door and the passenger side door had sustained damage.  The mustang that he drove was a piece of junk and had no discernable damage to it.  This is primarily because it had so many dents on it one or two more couldn’t be found.  I am not kidding – there was not one square inch on the mustang that didn’t already have a dent on it before this accident.  The 55 Chevy would never be the same.  We were able to pop out the dents for the most part.   It was a sad day for me and the 55 Chevy.  It would never try a bat-turn again.

P.S.  How do you explain that to your Dad?  I have likened it to Nephi and the broken bow.  I suppose it was pretty hard for Nephi to let his dad know he had broken the steel bow.  The same was true for me with the car.