“$50 car carries him 2000 miles back home to Arizona” from the July 20, 1971 Door County Advocate
$50 car carries him 2000 miles back home to Arizona
By JAN DUFEK
It was Tuesday morning, July 6, when I walked into Felhofer Bros. garage and asked Hank Propsom, “Have you got a good cheap car that will take me out to Arizona?”
“Sell him the ’58 Chev,” somebody said and as I looked it over, Dennis Bastar told me its merits — pretty good tires, a good engine with several new parts. He assured me it should easily make the 2,000 mile trip.
Then came the big question, how much would he sell it for? I explained I had made only $160 while in Door county and that had to get me back home to Arizona.
“How about $50,” he asked. “I’ll take it,” I said, without even bothering to try it out. Then I had to ask him how to drive it as I had never driven a car with a shift on the steering column. But I found that no great problem and drove it out to Orchard Ole’s Stoney Acres where I had spent the preceding five weeks staying with Grandma Robertson.
I had made the trip to Sturgeon Bay with an Illinois buddy of mine from Arizona Western College in his little Opal, which was so filled with our belongings and my ham set that there was little room left for us to sit. I had hoped to find summer employment in my old home town. My framed third class radio license was safely packed in my suitcase and it was my secret hope that Ed Allen might find a place for me on WDOR, but such was not the case. After two weeks of planting trees at the Evergreen Nursery, Ed did help me out by giving me some odd jobs to do around his house.
Back at Stoney Acres, I spent the rest of Tuesday packing. I had brought my ham set, antenna and halo for the top of the car and had set up a ham station in one of Uncle Jim’s former migrant buildings. I had a great time as the band seemed to be open almost every night and I talked to ham operators in 22 states while there.
I left Stoney Acres at 5:30 a.m. Wednesday, July 7, and 800 miles later about midnight I arrived at my Uncle John Robertson’s at Carthage, Mo. Were they surprised to see me. After a good night’s rest and nourishment I took off Thursday morning at 10:30 a.m. That night at 9:30 I rolled into a KOA campground at Tucumcari, New Mexico. I crawled in the back seat and was asleep in nothing flat and woke up Friday morning at 8:30 a.m.
I really didn’t expect to make it home that day, but reached Flagstaff, Arizona about 6:00 pm, so decided I could make it. I got pretty tired, so stopped for a nap almost 60 miles from home. Two hours later I woke up, looked at my watch and it was 47 minutes before midnight and I wanted to make it before the day was over so stepped on the gas. My speedometer never worked, so never knew how fast I was going, but knew the car couldn’t go fast enough to exceed the limit so didn’t worry. Having a halo on top of the car creates a lot of interest and inquisitive stares and whenever I came to a four way stop there almost always seemed to be four cars there, and they always let me go first.
Jan Dufek and car back home in Arizona
My parents could hardly believe their eyes when I rolled in that night. They admitted they were pretty worried when I called and said I was leaving with a $50 car. Brother Lon immediately offered to buy the car from me. In my absence he had been driving my 1965 Corvair, and this was in his price range (jobs are scarce here too). Although I had been offered way up to $75 by my friends I made the deal with Lon. He’s already sanded the rust spots, waxed it and before he’s through I’m sure it will be the best looking old car in Lake Havasu City.
Now I’m having a great time telling all my ham operator friends about my great trip in a ’58 Chev which purred like a kitten for 2,000 miles and never gave me any trouble except for an occasional quart of oil, which I kept good supply of in the back seat.
And now another adventure begins as I take over my dad’s shoe repair shop and do my own cooking for three weeks while the rest of the family leaves on their trip to Door county. I’ll venture to say my trip was more exciting than theirs will be, and cheaper too. I had $30 left of the $90 I started out with, so it took me just $60 to cross the country. As for the $50 I paid for the car, I came out even on that.
Courtesy of the Door County Library Newspaper Archive