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Today (Saturday) was a very nice day in Seattle, and the beginning of the
"official" car show season. So, after a little sprucing up, Ferret and I
motored off the easy 1-1/2 miles to the local department store parking lot
which sponsors an every Saturday evening "show 'n shine". A nice evening
will usually bring out 200 or more cars. We turned into the lot...
I found a parking spot that allowed be to pull me in straight ahead, no
backing (lots of children - they tend to stick in the tire tread and make a
big mess when backed over). After a demonstration of physical conditioning
(exiting the Ferret without looking like toothpaste squeezing from the
tube), I descend into the crowd that has now gathered.
The first order of business was to inform all within hearing that "that
corner is REALLY HOT", pointing at the muffler shield and tailpipe. Not that
the simple warning would prevent me from a lawsuit, I'm sure. With my luck
some lawyer's kid would run up and grab on just to see if I was telling the
truth.
Then the tire-kicking and questions begin in earnest. After a bit I began to
take note of the questions and their answers. Never mind that I had two full
descriptions of the Ferret printed out and available to anyone who could
read, one on each side. Hmmm. Maybe the folks in my part of Seattle can't
read? Anyway, the questions ran sort of like this"
"Is that a real gun?" referring to the Browning .30 MG in the turret.
"How much does it weigh?"
"Does that gun shoot?"
"What kind of gas mileage do you get?"
"Do the cops stop you because of that gun?"
"What kind of a motor does it have?"
"Is that a real gun?"
"Why did you get it?" (answer - because I could)
"Is that a real machine gun?"
"How much did it cost?"
"I REALLY like that GUN. Where can I get one?"
By now you get the picture. Only once did I have to extract some young woman
that was attempting to stuff herself through the turret into the driver's
area. I only had my back turned for a moment - she was pretty agile for a
"stout" lady. The rubber grenade launcher caps survived a few pokes and
prods, but not as many as I might have imagined. I answered a lot of
questions that were reasonably intelligent, and talked with a few old
military types that had driven "heavy metal" during various conflicts.
All in all it was a successful first outing. Next time I will: take my
folding chairs along so I can sit down during all this, and watch the tire
kickers in the front of the Ferret, where there is the greatest danger of
"tinkering", and provide more numerous description sheets so I don't have to
answer quite so many questions. It was a great opportunity to discuss the
collection of military vehicles. I found one young man who had, in addition
to his freshly painted old Franklin, an M38 and a Jeep. He became an
instant candidate for my local MVPA group. I enjoyed discussing the use of
the Ferret, and the fact that they are not rare, just not often driven on
the streets by their owners. I've driven about 100 miles each month since
the very end of December, and intend to hit more shows as they come along.
The response is great! There are always lots and lots of 55-56-57 Chevys,
but so far, only one Ferret!
I would encourage the MIL-VEH owners to give some of the "regular" car shows
a try. The folks are always interested in the mechanical aspect of our
rigs, and are often owners of military vehicles but do not belong to any
club or group. For the most part they are respectful of your property, and
will only touch things if invited to do so. I also intend to order up some
MVPA decals and other identifiable "stuff" so that I might be able to
encourage others to either join or attend some of the events that feature
restored military vehicles.
So, after two or so hours of blabbing about the Ferret and explaining for
the zillionth time that "the gun can't shoot", I went home to dinner and
making plans for the next event!
Ian Wallace, in sunny Seattle (for today at least)
1960 Ferret Mk 2/3, with lots of easy to wipe off little handprints
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon May 01 2000 - 05:30:05 PDT