[Lee Stewart]

My Uncle Mel - my mother's sister's husband - was an engineer. The word "RISK" was not part of his vocabulary. I loved him dearly because he was such a down to earth guy. He never treated me like a kid - but as a young adult. When they use the expression: "Salt Of The Earth" that was my Uncle Mel.

He worked for a company that was contracted by NASA. What he exactly did, I never knew and when I asked him, he sort of hemmed and hawed but never told me so now I assume it was classified. He was a Sargent in the US Army and fought in Korea.

Anyways, he did something very good. Good enough to earn a substantial bonus. Uncle Mel never owned a new car. Always some 5 to 7 year old POS. Well, he decided it was time to use the bonus. And throwing caution to the wind, instead of getting a subtle color he bought the car you see in this photo. And it was RED. I am really RED. It also had a 383-4V in it. Boy was I impressed. Uncle Mel wasn't just brave and smart. He was also cool.

It lasted 2 years. It was a gas guzzler, much bigger than he was used to and the newness I guess had worn off. So he traded it in on a puke yellow Duster. Uncle Mel was no longer cool. Remember the expression: "out of the frying pan and into the fire." That's what happened with the Duster. Brand new car and the front fenders were rusting off of it after only 1 year.