It was always called ‘The Junk’. Long before I had ever visited Ben’s summer home,
before I had met either Ben or Dave in high school, before Ben was born, even before
Ben’s father was born, it was called ‘The Junk’. In fact, the powder blue and black model
T was named ‘The Junk’ from the very moment it first turned a wheel, because that’s
exactly what it was born of: junk.
Ben’s grandfather was an ambulance driver in the First World War. With this job came a
myriad of responsibilities, including field doctor, nurse, getaway driver and on-the-fly
mechanic. It was the mechanic aspect that caused 'The Junk' to come into being. The
ambulances of WW1 were frequently Model Ts because they were cheap, easy to repair
and very durable. These were all key features since the Geneva Convention did not come
into existence until 1949. Thus, during WW1, ambulances and virtually anything else that
moved, frequently took fire and as a result were either disabled or just plain blown up,
unfortunate occupants included. Ben’s grandfather would pick up some of the parts of the
ambulances that the army was no longer interested in and ship them back to his home in
the U.S. So, every once in a while a parcel would arrive back in the states containing a
slightly scorched seat or maybe a straight enough axle or perhaps a shrapnel pierced hood,
each a singular greeting from some war-ravaged front in France.
Read the rest here:
http://www.autopuzzles.com/cfeature8.htm
