The Jack Russells of General Motors

Back in the early 1960s there was a group of engineers a General Motors that got to make their dreams come true. These were like the Jack Russell Terriers of the automotive engineers. They were the guys that were always wanting to try something different. In kindergarten they probably didn’t color inside the lines! And some things never change.In the early 60s their time had come. There were many unusual buzz words such as rear-engined, turbocharged, overhead cam, air-cooled, and transaxle. At this time Ford Motor Company had introduced the Falcon and Chrysler the Valiant as their small cars. Both were fairly conventional except for size although the Chrysler product did have a slant six engine. Chevrolet had introduced the true radical design for American automobiles, the Corvair. It was a rear-engined car with the engine air-cooled. Yes, there were similarities to the Volkswagen. The flat six cylinder engine produced 80 horsepower initially with up to 180 horsepower in later Spyder models. The models with turbochargers were rather quick and as well although not with a compact like the Corvair. The car would be the F-85, a smaller Olds. It had a variety of engines including an 215 cubic inch displacement aluminum V-8. The Jetfire version sported a turbocharger no doubt borrowed from Corvair Spyder. The engine developed a staggering 215 horsepower, one horsepower per cubic inch! Only the Chrysler 300 had achieved this before. And it could be coupled with a four speed manual transmission. Hardly

grandma’s grocery getter. However, performance was not without problems. The turbocharger tended to overheat. Pontiac Division got into the act with the Tempest. A small car comparable to the Oldsmobile F-85. John Z. DeLorean whose name would become synonymous with Pontiac performance was in chargof development. Due to budgetary constraints DeLorean chose to cut a V-8 engine in half to produce an economical four cylinder engine. The car also had an

innovative curved drive shaft coupled the a two speed automatic transaxle. The Tempest would eventually grow into the legendary GTO. Buick added its Special to the mix being the first production automobile with a standard V-6 engine. While the original versions were rather docile, the later models would morph into the Buick Grand National powered by a 500 horsepower turbocharged V-6. Like Ford’s Model T the car came in only one color, black. It was said to be the fasted

production automobile manufactured in America at that time.

And so it that American car fanciers witnessed four of the most innovative automobiles developed by the American automobile industry.

The Moth that Hovers

We were staying at a hotel about five miles from St Remy-de-Provence in the south of France when I saw it. I was sitting at a small table having afternoon tea when I saw this creature for the first time. The plantings beside the patio were of rosemary, thyme and other herb, with a smattering of flowering plants as well. I thought at first it was a hummingbird. The antennae were the major clue that it was not a hummingbird although it “hummed” like the bird. Its wings beat seventy times per second producing the sound as well as movement, that is flight. And it can fly sideways. Unlike other moths, it flies in daylight.

I was seeing a rare creature for sure, a hummingbird hawk-moth. It is amazing how God made some creatures with a survival mechanism or if you prefer that they evolved with certain characteristics as Darwin would have said. This moth is an insect that appears to be a bird. And that characteristic helps it escape the insect feeders of nature. Its tiny wings (wingspan of about two inches) appear almost invisible as it hovers near a flower. There are actually two pair of wings! It is quite an amazing creature which feeds on the nectar of flowers. When not flying the moth’s camouflage is complete as its color  blends perfectly with tree bark. It does have discriminatory tastes and determines particular flowers by color. It uses a beak-like drinking straw which uncurls to suck out the nectar. This “drinking straw” can be an inch long or as long as one on the hummingbird hawk-moth’s wings. Once the hummingbird hawk-moth discovers a favorite feeding spot it may return to it daily at a preferred time! The honeysuckle being one of its favorites. As a boy I enjoyed the sweetness from the honeysuckle blossom. 

They hatch from eggs as green worms with white stripes. These larvae consume leaves of the plant which held the eggs of the moth. When it reaches a certain size it becomes encased in a silken cocoon. The metamorphosis takes place a the moth emerges and feasts on the leaves of it’s birthplace. The moth will live three weeks to seven months feeding on flowers and pollinating them.

My initial response that I was seeing something other than a hummingbird was correct since hummingbirds exist only in the Americas.

What Now for American Education?

What I’m about to talk about is important to all Americans.  About their children or grandchildren. They are the future of our country.

We, in the United States of America, enjoy the highest standard of living in the world.. We have the highest standard for a number of reasons. Abundant natural resources and a multi-ethnic people living under a government that promotes personal freedom. These were the people who placed men on the moon, split the atom and invented the supercomputer. And many other products and services that we enjoy today. 

But one factor behind this success is the education of its children. At the turn of the 20th century emphasis was placed on education. At least eleven years of public education. This was soon increased to twelve years. Out of this system came hundreds of well educated factory workers, tradesmen and professionals. During the 1960s emphasis was placed on mathematics and science in our public schools. This was primarily due to the Space Race the USA had entered with the  USSR. A bold American president said we would put a man on the moon in a decade, and we did.  The result of this goal culminated in tremendous advances in technology and the invention of new materials and processes. 

During the Clinton administration the Department of Education was created.  Later the federal government instituted programs such as the ”No Child Left Behind Program'' in the Geo. W. Bush administration. The intent to improve was a failure.  Later during the Obama administration the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was passed. Although it was designed to stimulate a poor economy, it provided millions of dollars for education. The “Race For The Top'' initiative provided $4.35 million for certain educational programs. These were normally referred to as “Common Core”. The idea was to have a national standard for education. This program was not endorsed by educators or students’ parents.  This did little to slow the slide to education mediocrity. Perhaps the only positive response to Common Core was the interest sparked among normally disinterested parents 

One of the major factors contributing to a substandard American education system is the lack of interest of parents in their children’s education. During the school shutdown during the COVID-19 pandemic parental interest in education increased considerably. Now such organizations as Moms for Liberty are demanding accountability from local education systems. Although millions of dollars has been funneled from the federal government, state and local governments, very little has found its way into a teacher’s paycheck. Average teacher pay is $62,304. There is a scarcity of qualified teachers. It should be noted that teachers’ unions are all about teacher benefits and not about the quality of instruction. 

There is an interesting fact concerning money for education. It seems that with the more money given to education, the better the letter grades students receive. Interestingly, scores on national tests indicate that as more money is given to education and student grades are higher, the actual learning decreases. According to a Business Insider report in 2018 the U.S. ranked 38th in math and 24th in science. The National Assessment of Educational Progress, commonly referred to as “America’s Report Card”,  measures students' knowledge in key subjects—math, reading, history, science,and more. The NAEP results echoes the same findings. 

But now our education system is deteriorating. There is no longer an emphasis on the curricula that produces mathematicians, scientists and engineers. And our place as a world leader is 

diminishing. But it’s not too late to reverse the trend. 

There was something about Freddie, and the written word is useless as a method of explanation. Freddie* was an extraordinary storyteller. I believe that everyone is a storyteller. You may take issue with that statement, but let me explain. We humans communicate primarily with words. We talk. Words form sentences, and sentences are the way we communicate our thoughts. These thoughts are stories. If you are giving instructions  or a description, or a verbal reprimand,  all are  stories. 

Freddie spoke with a midwestern accent, the kind newscasters have. His diction was neither fast or slow, and I’m sure that if we measured his rate of speech it would have been one hundred sixty words per minute. That’s the same rate of speech as Walter Cronkite. Freddie was animated when he spoke. Being slightly less than six feet tall and with what Barney Fife called a sinewy body/   His movements were quick and cat-like. A  tattoo of the word “Screech” was on his left arm. We thought it was probably a nickname regarding his appearance. His hair was jet black and he could grow a five o’clock shadow by ten in the morning. He wore heavy looking black rimmed glasses with  lenses that made his eyes appear larger. We surmised that it made his face look like that of an owl. A screech owl! 

The stories Freddie would tell were not extremely unusual. Many concerned growing up in a small town or nautical stories from his time in the U.S. Navy. But his delivery surely was unusual. He produced sounds to illustrate his words. If he described someone leaving hurriedly, the statement would be followed by a “whoosh”!  The sounds of “whish, whoosh, bang, pow, gr-r-r, boing, whew, tick-tick,” and others would accent his words. To say his stories were entertaining was quite an understatement!

The effect is not one that can be reproduced in print.

We recently met Freddie for lunch and sadly noticed the lack of “whooshes, pows, and bangs”  in his speech. The years had rendered Jerry’s colorful language  black and white.

*not

I Wanna Drive a Race Car

The Francis Marion Memorial Service

The Second Question

Not long ago I was having coffee with some friends when one of the ladies at the table made an interesting comment. I was returning from the men’s room and was not in on the current conversation. It was our usual Friday morning gathering at the gym. After exercise we would gather for coffee. Janet was saying, “ and they never invited me to another meeting.” I did not hear the beginning of the discussion. 

Of course we wanted to know why. She said in a curt New England accent, “I think it was because I said we didn’t go to church.” 

“H-m-m,”  I thought to myself.  I could envision what had happened. A group of local ladies enjoying afternoon tea with my friend as the new kid on the block. She was probably the only one in the group that did not use the contraction ”y’all”. Janet was experiencing a clash of cultures. She couldn’t understand what had happened. I said, “I don’t know why, but in conversation with new members of the community, usually the second question asked is ''What church do you go to?’. But I don't think it is as common as it used to be.”

Rob wanted to know, “What is the first question?”

“Where do you live?” I responded. 

Janet asked me, “ You’ve lived here a long time.  What do you think about this obsession with church? These girls didn’t seem very religious to me.”

“You are right, Janet. I have lived here all my life. Admittedly, we Southerners are perceived of being a bit different. But about the church thing, let me say I don’t know. I remember my momma  usually knew what churches people went to. We were Baptists. But we knew some folks that were Methodists. Daddy’s folks were all ARPs.  I guess church was a big part of our lives. Daddy became a teetotaller after he had a fight with a State Trooper. And after that Daddy said that if you put your feet under his table, you went to church on Sunday morning. So I did. I don’t think most people are as religious as they used to be, though.  But I don’t have an answer to your question, Janet. Maybe the professor has an answer.”

The professor was retired from the University of South Carolina. Although he was not a native South Carolinian, he was respected in his field of early American history. He looked up from his coffee over the rimless glasses while stroking the imaginary hair of his bald head. He spoke in a rumbling baritone voice which probably evoked fear in college freshmen. “I believe such action is just another facet of Southern culture.”

 

John Bryson spoke up. “ Just what do you mean by another facet of Southern culture?”  John, with that slow drawl of someone conceived under a magnolia, could recount the heroic exploits of his ancestors in the War Between the States at a moment’s notice. And he exhibited a basic distrust of anyone from north of the Mason-Dixon line. John readily accepted deposits at his family's bank from our recent emigres but wouldn’t accept them into his foursome at the oceanfront links of his country club. 

“I think it has to do with the agrarian nature of the South. You see the South has always had an agricultural economy. At least up until the late nineteenth century. Until then there had been very little manufacturing in the South.”

Bryson spoke up. “I don’t see what farming had to do with it!”

“Let me tell you what I think,” Professor Bob said. “Back in the old days when everybody farmed, people didn’t see much of each other. They didn’t see each other often like people in the northern cities did. The only time they met others was at church. So it was very important to know what church people attended. There might be acquaintances in common.”

“That may very well be, Professor, but I still think they were just rude!” Janet said. 

Butt First

“You gotta get in butt first,” he said as he entered the automobile.  

“ Okay,” says I as I maneuvered  my seventy-eight-year-old body into the sleek machine. Flexibility is one of those things that fades away with age. 

I settled into the body hugging comfortable seats. It was a four passenger vehicle and I was riding shotgun. Tiny colored icons appeared on the glossy sections of the instrument panel bathing interior with another worldly light. Patrick touched some of these hieroglyphics as the Porsche moved into the street. There was a slight whine and motor sound from the engine. He maneuvered the machine through light traffic in the onset of evening. I felt the gear change which surprised me. He noticed my surprise and said unlike most vehicles of this type the Tayman had a transmission. There was also the sound of an internal combustion engine which I was told was included in the design primarily as a warning device for pedestrians. (Electric vehicles are silent.) The automobile accelerated quietly and moved deftly through light traffic until we turned into a wide street (I think all streets are wide in Phoenix.) and he stopped the car. I looked through the windshield over a slightly sloping hood of which Porsches are famous for a view of the desert sky. It was lit with fiery orange accented with streaks of purple against an advancing darkness. Patrick was tapping icons on the touch screen  putting the car into which I would learn was “launch mode”. “Are you ready?” he asked and added, “I always ask everyone this. They say they are, but usually aren’t. Are you ready?”  I answered in the affirmative and had a mental flashback to an event of nearly sixty years ago. The car seemed to be attempting to move but was being held back. In my youth I would watch Torqueflite equipped Dodges and Plymouths on the starting line at the local drag strip rev up their wedge head and hemi engines. The entire cars would twist due to the tremendous torque of their engines. But I wasn’t at a drag strip in the 1960s, I was on a street in Phoenix, Arizona. And then it happened. I was slammed into my seat as the low profile tires on twenty-one inch rims grabbed the asphalt like a bulldog grabbing a bone. I was one with a projectile shot from the cannon.  It has to do with eight hundred volts of electricity delivered from a battery to an electric motor driving the rear wheels. A perfect system developed and produced by the German company created by Dr. Ferdinand Porsche many years ago. I’m sure this launch had Dr. Porsche turning over in his grave.  Indeed the epitome of German automotive technology. Patrick continued to extol the features of  his electric four door sports car as we drove along. However, no other features compared to what I would call the “blinding acceleration” demonstrated. Patrick’s smile was bathed in the light of the instrument panel .

It was a  sho nuff electric hot rod.