I had a Letter-to-the-Editor about child-rearing and automobiles, of all things, published in today's Indianapolis Star. (It has a political hint at the end of it, so I'll not post it. You can find it under Opinion at Indystar.com)The phone rang with kudos for the content around suppertime and it was a long-lost Studebaker friend, former Indianapolis' Snider Studebaker tune-up and light line mechanic Bill "Slim" Mitchell, now 82 years old and hiking cars for Avis part-time.
Bill lives in Speedway, Indiana in the same house where he lived while working at Snider, but I had not heard from him for the better part of 20 years. He was an excellent tune-up mechanic. He personally taught me how to rebuild a supercharger at Snider when I was 17 years old, in that he could do them blindfolded. A witty guy whose company I always enjoyed.
I remember Bill trying to adjust (circa 1967) the rear quarter windows in my 1959 Lark Regal hardtop to operate better, and his confidentially informing me that the regulator design, "wasn't very good." On another occasion, I was talking to Bill while he was putting a set of spark plugs in one of the first 1965 283-powered Studebakers and "observing" [to be polite] the operation being -ahem- more difficult than on a 1964 Studebaker V-8. I may have learned a new word or two that day!
Bill went on to become a front-end mechanic at Indianapolis' now-defunct Ogle-Tucker Buick, from which he retired some time ago. I remember Bill distinctly telling me why he retired. He finished a wheel alignment one day and took the car on a test drive. He noted a terrible wobble/shake in the front end and returned to the dealership pronto, only to discover he had forgotten to tighten the lug nuts on one front wheel.
He said he recognized the time had come and retired at the end of that week. He was a conscientious guy, to be sure; always in good health.
He was surprised to hear I still had one of his Snider Studebaker business cards in my card file, which I do. (The dealership was one of the few that had individual business cards for each mechanic, as well as salesmen, etc.)
"Slim" Mitchell was one of the better mechanics from whom I had the privilege of learning on location in an operating Studebaker dealership. It was good to hear his voice after all these years. I confirmed his address and will be sending him our Chapter Newsletter, hopefully to interest him in attending a meeting.
Not to worry, I told him; he wouldn't be the oldest guy there!
BP
We've got to quit saying, 
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