Trouble in School: part 11

Of Sticks my mouth and Old Cars

Alexandria’s Central High School started a driver ed class in the spring of 1952, and it was a route to get a real license at 15½. I did most of my practice driving with the assistant football coach/history teacher Mr. Astcoach and did well. Two friends were farm kids, so they and I also practiced with pickups on their parents’ farms and the nearby county roads.

Mr. Hdcoach was the main driving teacher and did all of the testing to consent to the State Patrol testing for a minimum age license. I almost didn’t get authorized to take the state test.

My mouth got in the way of what the rest of me could do quite well. Parallel parking was done with sticks at the corners of an on-street parking place. I’m not sure just what I said, but it was something like, “Mr. Hdcoach, I believe it’s ridiculous to park with sticks pretending to be cars when the real test would be to have some wrecking yard cars parked for us to get in between.”

I knew it was so the Chevy dealer donated driver ed car wouldn’t have a dented front fender but said what I did anyway. My unheard intention was to make parallel parking more realistic.

His look told me I should keep quiet, but I added as I completed the maneuver into the space, “How many times in real life have you had to park between sticks.”

He got out and told me I was more than a foot from the curb to which I said something about the posts being more than a car-width from the curb, so space-wise I’d actually parked correctly.

I did a recovery and asked if he’d show me how to get closer to the curb. He hit the front stick twice, then sent me home.

The letter authorizing me to take the state patrol test came, and the next week two junkers were parked the required six inches from the curb in front and in back of the driver education practice spot. I had aced the written test and parked between the junkers after my MSP test drive through town and on the highway.

I got my license at 15½, but we didn’t have a family car so it was some time before I could drive them anywhere. But it did help getting me a job at the Red Owl grocery store. I could use the boss’s wife’s car to make deliveries.
There is more to that story, but perhaps I’ll tell it later.