The Ford Barn - View Single Post

DD931 · 05-21-2018, 04:14 PM

I joined the Navy when I was seventeen, just out of high school, in 1958. When I graduated from boot camp I was assigned to school in Dam Neck, VA (near Virginia Beach). I decided to drive my '30 Tudor down to Virginia from Massachusetts. So, off I went. (No interstates in '58). Ran 50-55 much of the way. BUT, after a while, the generator quit and I was running on just the battery. That was OK as long as I kept the engine running since it wouldn't crank well on a low battery. In those days before the Hampton Roads bridge/tunnel was built, you had to take a ferry across from Kiptopeke (sp) Beach at the end of the DelMarVa peninsula over to Norfolk. You couldn't keep the engine running on the ferry, so she had to be shut down. And, I was one of the first cars on the ferry, so no one behind me could get off until I did. No pressure!! We were allowed to start our cars as the ferry was approaching the slip, so I cranked the old girl by hand and she started right up and off I went. No one the wiser!! When you're a teenager anything is possible!!! An experience I will never forget!!!

05-21-2018, 04:14 PM	#47
DD931 Senior Member Join Date: May 2010 Location: PA Poconos Posts: 723	Re: tell a Model A related story I joined the Navy when I was seventeen, just out of high school, in 1958. When I graduated from boot camp I was assigned to school in Dam Neck, VA (near Virginia Beach). I decided to drive my '30 Tudor down to Virginia from Massachusetts. So, off I went. (No interstates in '58). Ran 50-55 much of the way. BUT, after a while, the generator quit and I was running on just the battery. That was OK as long as I kept the engine running since it wouldn't crank well on a low battery. In those days before the Hampton Roads bridge/tunnel was built, you had to take a ferry across from Kiptopeke (sp) Beach at the end of the DelMarVa peninsula over to Norfolk. You couldn't keep the engine running on the ferry, so she had to be shut down. And, I was one of the first cars on the ferry, so no one behind me could get off until I did. No pressure!! We were allowed to start our cars as the ferry was approaching the slip, so I cranked the old girl by hand and she started right up and off I went. No one the wiser!! When you're a teenager anything is possible!!! An experience I will never forget!!!