1957 Bel Air

  I bought my first car when I was 22 years old, from John Colarusso at Bumstead Chevrolet.  It was two-tone, raspberry and white 1957 Chevy Bel-Air.  It ran pretty well for a time, but then  developed a pattern of stalling, usually when being driven through heavy traffic at low speed, which happened fairly often then, before the Northway, when the city roads were heavily congested with traffic.  I would get out of the car, raise the hood, and (if I remember correctly) remove the top of the carburetor, perform some minor function, fasten the top back on, and then proceed on my way.  I impressed quite a number of passengers with my mechanical ability, but it was a feat born of necessity; what else was I to do.
    One nice summer day, on my way home from Troy or Albany, the engine failed on Route 40, on the stretch between Melrose and Schaghticoke, on a slight incline as it were.   I got out, went to the front of my car, as usual,  to raise the hood.  But the car started to roll backwards, down the hill.  I did what any twenty-something would do.  I ran after the car, opened the door in an effort to get inside to stop it.  I grasped the steering wheel to gain leverage to get inside, but that of course brought the car into a swerve, across both lanes into the field, landing it perpendicular to the highway. Oddly now, I don't recall whether I rode with the car, but I don't think I did.  I think I must have extricated myself from the swinging door and it took off without me.  (I WAS in my early 20's.)  I do recall standing there, looking at my car and wondering what to do next.  It was not very long before some men in a truck, just passing by I guess, stopped, pulled my car out of the cornfield, and I went on my way.  I never told anyone, because I was embarrassed to have been in such a situation.  I never thought too much of how dangerous it was either.  And I think I traded the car in not long after----but it did run well, as long as you babied it a little.