A true story from 1974 about a 1963 Riviera

[Guest Steeleco]

On a sunny day in south Florida in 1974 one of my friends from high school bought my dad's 1963 Riviera. Three of my friends were planning to drive it out west to see Evel Knievel jump the snake river canyon. I have heard story's about this trip from them over the years and it must have been some kind of party. Having basically driven the tires off the car the friends would get at each others throats from time to time as expected of a group of kids with an unending supply of Coors Beer involved. I won't mention any other party favors that may have been involved. One story I heard puts them riding through Denver Colorado with the exhaust basically rusted and fallen off the car echoing through the buildings. My understanding is they were pulled over and one of the guys asked the cop to arrest him just to get away from the other guys. The cop must have figured they deserved each other. Two out of 3 of the guys made it back to south Florida. One guy ended up taking a Greyhound home. Ok, so where is this going?

I purchased a 63 Riviera a little over a year ago that was exactly like my fathers for sentimental reasons. My father had passed away a few years earlier. I called the guy who bought my dads car back in 1974 and let him know I just bought one that I was fixing up. We got together and had a few laughs talked about their trip out west but I had totally forgotten about the fact they went to see Evel Knievel jump the grand canyon. Here is where it starts to get funny. As my wife and I were coming out of Home Depot this young guy that worked there yells out "hey that's a nice car, my dad drove one of those out west to see Evel Knievel jump the grand canyon in 1974". After a moment it hit me and when I turned around and said to the guy "I know your dad and he bought that car from my dad back in 1974" he had to be shocked. Small World isn't it? Ok, last part. I ran in to woman I know working at the grocery store, told her the story and son of gun if it wan't the kids mom, ex-wife of the guy that bought my dad's car to start with.

The End.

Edited January 17, 2014 by Steeleco (see edit history)

[63 Rivi]

Funny story. Small world isn't it?

[Jim Cannon]

Which high school, Steele?

I graduated from NMSH in '74.

[Guest Steeleco]

The back story:

We all went to Forest Hill High School in West Palm Beach Florida. One of the guys ended up moving out west and is a great drummer. One guy went on to be a successful contractor and one of the guys committed suicide.