Chevy Vega - Dave's Midwestern Ohio Memories

Series of Guest Blogs by an out-of-state Fish Report reader originally from this area about fond memories of growing up in Midwestern Ohio during the 50’s & 60’s

Chevy Vega

You might be wondering why this Ford guy would write a blog about a GM car like the Chevy Vega. The memories all came to the surface this week when a fellow Ford retiree mentioned that the air conditioning system was acting up on his 2015 F250 pick-up. As someone who started out as an engineer at Frigidaire in Dayton working on a/c systems for General Motors, I volunteered to help him diagnose the problem - from a distance that is, in light of the Covid-19 protocols.

Here’s what the a/c system looks like. When the air coming out of the registers is warm, a number of possible issues could be at cause. By checking temperatures and pressures around the system, the problem can be generally isolated. In this case, we diagnosed the problem to be a plugged orifice tube which provides a critical function within the system. If it’s plugged, the refrigerant cannot flow to the evaporator to cool the air flowing over it. The F250 was taken to the local Ford dealer who confirmed the diagnosis, removed the debris from the plugged orifice tube, reinstalled it and recharged the system with refrigerant. It’s now working perfectly.

That orifice tube looked very familiar as I had worked with the Frigidaire engineer who patented the orifice tube over 50 years ago in 1968. His name is Dick Widdowson who had served under General George S. Patton during WWII and developed over 30 patents while employed by GM.

As a coop student in my sophomore year of college at General Motors Institute, my work assignment at Frigidaire was in the test labs. Each of us coop students were assigned to an engineer who took us under his wings, so to speak. Mr. Widdowson was in charge of the a/c system for the upcoming 1970 Chevrolet Vega, GM’s first foray into small cars. The a/c systems in most small cars at the time were not factory installed, instead provided by the aftermarket.

Thermostatic Expansion Valve  

So the challenge for the Vega factory-installed a/c system was to be lighter, smaller and less costly than the aftermarket units. I was fortunate enough to be part of the development team lead by Mr. Widdowson. And the orifice tube was a key enabler to meet the goal in that the aftermarket systems had complex thermostatic expansion valves with many moving parts and costly components while the orifice tube was simple, light and had no moving parts. I can vividly recall how Mr. Widdowson created plexiglass housings for many of the a/c system components in order to visually see what was going on inside with the refrigerant as it circulated around the system during our various test runs in the lab.

The Vega was to be assembled in Lordstown, Ohio with the cars shipped across the country in railcars that held the units vertically rather than on all four wheels.

So it became important to make sure the a/c system would still function properly after being shipped in such a position. Lo and behold, we discovered a serious lubrication issue in that compressor oil that normally circulates in the refrigerant would migrate to the accumulator and upon start-up would starve the compressor of much needed oil. The fix was a small bleed hole in a u-shaped tube at the bottom of the accumulator to allow the oil to drain.

A smaller, lighter weight a/c compressor was also being designed for the Vega by another group within the department, where I was fortunately assigned to during my next work period. Then eventually as the products went into production, as an upper classman at GMI, I became a key member of the launch team, providing invaluable experience that paid off handsomely throughout my entire career. I like to think Dick Widdowson was mentored by George Patton, so no doubt many of the traits Dick taught me came indirectly from the General.

~~~~~~~~

Receive a weekly email whenever there is a new blog post. Just enter your email address in the designated spot below the blog and follow instructions to set up the notification.

Returnables - Dave's Midwestern Ohio Memories

Series of Guest Blogs by an out-of-state Fish Report reader originally from this area about fond memories of growing up in Midwestern Ohio during the 50’s & 60’s

Returnables

The stay-at-home orders from Covid-19 have meant our garage is full of bags and bags of returnables here in Michigan, which has charged 10 cents for every bottle and can since 1976. At this time, for health reasons, grocery stores are banned from taking back the returns, so there’s no place to go - until now. A local charity called the Drew Crew is collecting them.The Drew Crew is a non-profit organization focused on helping individuals and families that have suffered a spinal cord injury or traumatic brain injury, so it’s a very worthwhile cause.

Ohio had a beer bottle returnable policy back in the 1950’s on the long neck bottles like shown above from the Cincinnati brewers. In fact, it was a nationwide policy establish in 1935, not state-by-state like today. There also was a deposit on the case if I recall. By the mid 1960’s, beer was being offered in cans, which avoided the long neck bottle deposit requirement. To compete, the glass bottle industry was also able to also get around the returnable fee by creating different shaped beer bottles, which eventually lead to the demise of the nationwide returnable policy, meaning each state was free to establish its own policy. Currently, nine states have returnables; California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Oregon, and Vermont.

A local Shelby County company, Stolle Machinery, played a key role in the transformation of the beverage industry by the inventing the pop top can. An opener was no longer required, just pull a tab. One problem was the tabs were discarded and especially prone to injuring someone barefoot who stepped on them. Soon Stolle developed a pop top that kept the tab connected.

The glass bottle industry responded by developing a built-in opener integrated into the bottom of the bottle, and eventually evolved to the twist off cap so prevalent today.

Speaking of beer caps, Mary, the wife of a former co-worker whom we regularly see at our favorite lunch place, has a hobby of making earrings out of bottle caps! Every time we see her, I have to check out the brand of beer showing on her earrings. Turns out she’s not the only one with the hobby, as there’s quite a market for them on eBay. Here’s a set that sold for $8.

Having lived with and without returnable bottles here in Michigan, we observed firsthand the difference in terms of litter along roads and especially in rivers. For example, during my college days, we’d canoe the AuSable river in Northern Michigan and routinely dumped empty cans overboard.

The water was so clear, you could see the bottom of the river littered with discarded cans. But a few years after the returnable law went into effect, during another canoe trip, we noticed the river bottom was clear as canoeists saved all their cans for return.

Similarly, Canada has a bottle return policy, and during our fly-in fishing trips to northern Ontario. we had a 100 pound carry-on limit per person, which was mostly beer that we consumed while fishing and at the camp. Since the empty returnables were much lighter than when full, the fish we brought back made up the difference to keep us under the weight limit. This previous blogpost tells more. One tidbit - to allow more beer and fish, we literally layered up all our clothes and stuffed our pockets with fishing gear for the seaplane ride as they never weighed us, just our beer and tackle box.

Thankfully, our garage has been cleared out, a very worthwhile charity benefited, as did the environment.

Enjoy summer, don’t litter and stay safe, Fish Report readers.

~~~~~~~~

Receive a weekly email whenever there is a new blog post. Just enter your email address in the designated spot below the blog and follow instructions to set up the notification.

Palm Sunday Tornado - Dave's Midwestern Ohio Memories

Series of Guest Blogs by an out-of-state Fish Report reader originally from this area about fond memories of growing up in Midwestern Ohio during the 50’s & 60’s

Palm Sunday Tornado

Reading about a recent storm that passed through Shelby County from Ft. Loramie to Anna brought back memories of the Palm Sunday tornado in 1965 during my junior year in high school. The tornado, one of 47 across six states, followed a similar path as the recent storm traveling from Ft. Loramie to Anna but was much more destructive, killing three people, injuring 50, destroying dozens of buildings and even derailing a train.

At the time neither the current Ft. Loramie High School or Anna Engine plant had been build, but had they been, the tornado would have likely hit both to generate much more destruction. President Lyndon Johnson declared a state of emergency and toured the destruction sites around Ohio.

Two of my classmates were on a date that night and as they were traveling west along Ft. Loramie-Swanders Road, they spotted the tornado heading their way, so both got out of the car and wisely crawled into a side ditch along a wooded area for protection. The tornado passed nearby and they could hear the winds tearing through the woods ripping massive trees into small pieces. Fortunately they survived the incident but the car was damaged from all the flying debris. To this day, if you look closely, you can still spot tree damage in the woods along the tornado’s path.

 Power Line Damage Under Repair

There was no school the next day as the power had been knocked out, so I recall we piled into the family car to scope out the damage. Here are some more photos from the local newspapers:

Cement Statues Strewn about at Loramie Cast Stone Products

A Family of Seven Miraculously Survived the Twister on this St. Patrick’s Farm

Barn Destroyed

Railcar Flipped Right Over

Pontiac GTO Crushed by Falling Cinder Blocks

Tom’s Body Shop Destroyed - Proprieter Tom Moeller Looks over the Aftermath

The photo of Tom Moeller especially brought back poignant memories. His shop located just south of Al’s Place was totally destroyed. I had gotten to know Tom a few months prior when he had performed some body work on Dad’s 1965 Chevy that I had damaged.

Dad had bought the car the previous fall just as the new models were coming out; but rather than trading in his old 1959 Chevy, he thankfully kept it for me, as I had just earned my drivers license. Our basketball team had a pre-season scrimmage with Marion but I missed the bus because we had a fresh cow to milk for the first time, which is a two person job. My duties were to distract the young cow by feeding it some grain in the station while Dad proceeded to gingerly place the milkers on the cow, which always proved to be very problematic.

Tom Moeller

The milkers got kicked off several times and so did Dad! But finally after getting the cow milked, Dad told me to head to the scrimmage but to take his car with snow tires since there were some early season snow flurries. Because I was running late, and with literally no experience driving under snowy conditions, I did a 180 into the side ditch along SR119 on my way to the scrimmage. It scared the heck out of me, plus the bumper and right fender were damaged when the car scrapped the fence along the road. Fortunately, the side ditch was minimal so I was able to drive out and head back home rather than going to the scrimmage. Dad was somewhat upset but less than expected, probably since he recognized I stuck around to help him milk the fresh cow. We took the car to Tom’s Body Shop for repairs, and because Dad didn’t want to risk increased car insurance rates with the “reckless teenager” now on the roles, he asked Tom to pick up a used bumper and pound out rather than replace the fender, all for about $100.

Tom eventually rebuilt his business after the tornado, selling the building to the Loramie Racing Team in 2003 when he retired, which is now a day care center. He died in 2017. Here is his obituary, with no mention of the tornado but no doubt was one of the most eventful days in his life.

~~~~~~~

Receive a weekly email whenever there is a new blog post. Just enter your email address in the designated spot below the blog and follow instructions to set up the notification.

Long Hair - Dave's Midwestern Ohio Memories

Series of Guest Blogs by an out-of-state Fish Report reader originally from this area about fond memories of growing up in Midwestern Ohio during the 50’s & 60’s

Long Hair

It’s official - Michigan is now the only state in the union not allowing barbers and hair stylists back to work due to Covid-19 risks! As a result, my hair hasn’t been this long since college, except now it’s gray and thinner.

When playing golf or tennis, I see my shadow with the long hair curling out from under my cap, which reminds me of my college days. Obviously the gray doesn’t show, so literally my shadow looks young again!

There is a barber in Owosso, Mi who ignored the Governor’s stay-at-home orders and re-opened his shop, only to have a judge rule it be closed, so he took his protest to the steps of the state capital and provided free haircuts as pictured here. Each of his customers put their hair clippings in an envelop addressed to the Governor in further protest of her stringent orders. She sent two representatives from the Attorney General’s office to deliver the judges ruling in person.

The reps both had overgrown hair so in jest he offered them a free haircut! The Governor then suggested people google how to cut their own hair. He responded by asking the Governor if hair cutting is so easy and non-essential, why does he need an expensive license from the state to practice? He’s still opened in full defiance and others have followed suit!

The mop-topped Beatles started the long hair craze back in the 1960’s, which meant I had to convert from a flat top haircut to the longer look, which was quite a transition that seemed to take years.

 

As a kid, Mom would cut my hair, but she never could master the flat top, so I saved my allowance money for my first professional haircut at Romie's barber shop in Ft. Loramie. It was a neat place since it also doubled as a sporting goods store, plus shoe repair. Proprieter Al Romie was the jack-of-all-trades who cut hair, repaired shoes and sold sporting goods in his Main Street store. By the time I got to know him, he was a lot older and balder than this photo on his wedding day.

After Al retired, Morrie Frey became the local barber and also held the position of the fire chief as his shop/home was directly across the street from the Fire Department. So he was like a full time firefighter on call 24-7. He would take the fire truck out to the fires and the other volunteers would follow in their vehicles, many red pick-up trucks with magnetic flashing red lights that were mounted to the top of the truck during a run.

My barber in Michigan was named Theo; check out this previous blogpost about him.

Back to the 60’s, the rock musical Hair originated on Broadway, featuring hit songs, profanity, depiction of the use of illegal drugs, its treatment of sexuality, its irreverence for the American flag, and its nude scene all caused much comment and controversy. I recall seeing a live performance of the show but was disappointed in the nude scene because the dimly lit stage showed the actresses strategically covered by their long hair! One actress was quoted as saying, "We stood naked to comment on the fact that society makes more of nudity than killing.” Good point.

~~~~~~~~

Receive a weekly email whenever there is a new blog post. Just enter your email address in the designated spot below the blog and follow instructions to set up the notification.

SCAL Golf - Dave's Midwestern Ohio Memories

Series of Guest Blogs by an out-of-state Fish Report reader originally from this area about fond memories of growing up in Midwestern Ohio during the 50’s & 60’s

SCAL Golf

Since ESPN is repeating previous sporting events, perhaps it’s ok to do the same regarding this week’s blog. Here’s a favorite blogpost from 2015, supplemented with some additional photos and commentary, about what may have been the first high school golf competition in Shelby County.

The first public golf course in the area was Shelby Oaks, which opened in the fall of 1965 with 9 holes during my senior year in high school.

Our basketball coach John Kremer was an avid golfer, so he recruited a bunch of newbie golfers including me from the senior class in high school and challenged Anna Coach Bob Anderson to a golf match at Shelby Oaks.

Coach Kremer had us practicing in the outfield of the baseball diamond. Fortunately, I had hit golf balls before, thanks to my uncle Gene from Chicago, who let us hit balls when he came to visit. I distinctly remember about age 12 hitting a golf ball with a 5 iron over the hog stable on our farm from next to the tool shed, a distance about 150 yards. That ball was never to be found, and it went farther by three times than any baseball I’d ever hit.

From that moment on, I was hooked on golf. Unfortunately for my wife, I’m still hooked 60 years later. Anyway, back to the story, the day of the big golf challenge arrived. I have no recollection of how our team did against Anna, but I do recall that I shot a 45, bogie golf my first time out, which I have a difficult time matching to this day. What a memorable round, but not quite Club championship caliber!

Unofficially, I’d like to think that 1965 Redskin-Rockets challenge match was the first ever SCAL golf competition!

Apparently this was a good start as the Redskins are currently reigning SCAL boys golf champions having gone undefeated in league play, with Anna in a close second. The Redskins qualified for the State Tournament and finished 9th. Congratulations to a great team with decent roots!

~~~~~~~~

Receive a weekly email whenever there is a new blog post. Just enter your email address in the designated spot below the blog and follow instructions to set up the notification.