Big Red Machine

~ True Story ~

 
Nineteen sixty one
was a tough year
at least for me

I had just turned 14
and what gripped my mind
at my February birthday party
was the two year wait I faced
until I could drive

my fantasy car
was a ‘57 Chevy V8 Bel Airu
convertible of course

day dreams
of top-down cruisin’
my girl by my side
and the radio thumpin’

as it turned out
summer of ‘63
was to prove
a great summer of tunes

Martha and her Vandellas
wailin’ out Heat Wave

the Chiffons sweetly singin’
He’s So Fine

and Franki Vali
and the Four Seasons
all walkin’ like a man

the Beach Boys
singin’ about an ocean
I had yet to see
much less
knowin’ how to surf

but loved their harmonies

then there was Smokey
with some monkey
that belonged to Mickey

who knew
who the hell
Mickey was

OH — and those 4 Beatle guys
from Liverpool

strange name
and strange hair
but great tunes

~ tuuunezz ~

ya know
I love tunes

so many great tunes
so many great groups

especially in 1963
I’m 16-years-old

hot tunes
right there
playin’ on the AM radio
in the coooll dashboard
of my dream car

my 1957 RED chevy BelAir
con…ver…tible

oh — by the way
this girl by my side
this — is my beautiful Donna

at 14
she is already sexy — NO

and yes
I’ve kissed her

and occasionally
got to 2nd base

even 3rd base
but only once

last week
after my 14th birthday party

WOW!

and our fantasy now
at least for me
is ignoring a movie
while foggin’up the windows
at our local passion pit

the Mt. Healthy Drive In

of course to drive in
I needed a car

to drive a car
I needed a license

to get a license
I needed to be 16

so you can see
why being only 14
in 1961
was stressful as hell

at least for me

I knew I’d get my license
given I already drove
although — without a license

drove very carefully
with my head on a swivel
scopin’ for cops

of course
the passion pit
required a car
but I had a plan

my uncle Bernie
leased parking lots
down at Crosley field
where the Cincinnati Reds
played professional baseball

he had promised me
at my 14th birthday party
if I could get a permit
to park cars at Crosely
he would hire me to park cars
during the games each summer
starting the coming summer

he said he’d pay me one dollar
for each car I parked

well
I didn’t actually park the cars
just directed the drivers to spaces
makin’ sure they didn’t crash
or hang over their marked spot

I had done a thorough inquiry
about how many spaces in the lot
and how many home games
so I’d done the math

if I played my cards right
and could get that permit
I would have enough
on my 16th birthday
to buy my fantasy car

used car of course
but that was fine
at least for me

I had to wait 6 weeks
nerve racking weeks
to see if I could that permit
in time for April’s Opening Day Game

which in those days
was a BIG DEAL
they were the BIG RED MACHINE

it was the very first game
played each year
in all of pro baseball

it was because
the Cincinnati Reds
were the 1st ever
professional baseball team

finally
the end of March 1961
I got what I feel was
the best gift I ever got

my permit to park cars
at the Reds’ Crosley Field

this would be the key
to my big red machine

my uncle kept his word
and I worked very hard
those next two summers

February 18th of 1963
my 16th birthday
I had enough money
to make my car dream
come true

it was the greatest
or certainly one of
the greatest days ever

at least for me

I had already found the car
so two weeks later
with Donna by my side
we bought my dream car

the very first thing we did
was put the top down
and go for a cruise

a very cold cruise
because it was
February in Ohio

but we loved it

Louie Louie
by the Kingsmen
was rockin’
outta the AM radio

instinctually

I was heading
for the drive-in
when suddenly
I realized

the drive in
was not open
in February
in Ohio

so we just cruised
the rest of that day

of course
only after
I put the top back up

as I was instructed

I cruised day after day
for many days
and many nights
far into the future

my cars changed
as did the names
of the girl
sitting beside me

but not that day

that day
it was
me and Donna
cruisin’
and groovin’

at 30 cents a gallon
cruisin’ was easy then

and that day
I realized
we had to wait
for that first trip
to the passion pit

but believe me
the wait
proved – to – be – worth it

at least for me

*
rob kistner © 2023

Poetry at: dVerse

OLN Poetry at: dVerse

8 thoughts on “Big Red Machine”

  1. This poem sure takes me back, Rob. Such great tunes for driving around, back in the 60’s………I didnt drive but boys would pick me up, reeking of talcum powder, and we’d drive up one side of the Main street, through the park, and back down the other side, just like in American Graffiti. LOL. Good times.

    1. Oh yes, we had our cruising route too. From the Parkmore burger joint in Finneytown, to the Frischs Big Boy burger joint in North College Hill, one town over. Back and forth we’d circle music playing full blast, friends climbing in and out of the cars — sometimes stopping to get a burger, or just hand out. I made the circle on weekends when school was in, and all summer when we were out. Cars were important, and I several cool rides during that period. This went on all through high school for me, when I wasn’t gig’n with my band(s). American Graffiti had it dead on, because that is exactly what George Lucas did in his California youth.

  2. I am so impressed that, at 14, you had a clear vision of your dream, and a means to achieve it, and you worked solidly towards it for two years! And how wonderful to hear all of that music over the airwaves. It must have been a fine time to be young 🙂

    1. My life as a young person was such that I had to grow up fast. My adoptive father was my hero, and the reason that I didn’t go off the rails. I went from the orphanage to a home that was deeply shadowed by paranoia/schizophrenia. By age 15 I had begun singing professionally, working around Cincinnati. At 16 I was performing in Newport KY in clubs that were open until 3:00 AM to the public, and til sunrise for special individuals. These places supported all the vices. It was like a film noir underworld scene. The guys in the band at that time were all older, and had a “band house” where I could “crash” when things got too bad home. With my dad’s encouragement and understanding I was able to continue in school all the way through college, singing professionally through it all, and for years beyond — sometimes full time sometimes part time. I lived a reasonably effective career/entrepreneur life simultaneously, with marriage children, friends, etc. My point in this rambling is, I learned to be a hustler, so fending for myself and for my dreams at a young age, did not seem unusual to me — it is just part of what I did to stay sane, with constant support of the loving man who adopted me. He was the foundation for my ongoing normal part of my life. He never finished high school, but he was a hard worker and the kindest man, hell, kindest person I’ve ever known. He had an innate understanding of people, and he showed me what it was to love — and believe in myself.

    1. For certain Kim! First true taste of independence. I hung with the wilder crowd, but we were not out to hurt anybody. Cars, girls, and playing in a rock band — and I regret none of it. I did well in school snd sports, but my real education came out of school, and off the field. 😉

  3. I loved that car, Rob. I am sooo glad you posted this, I’ll come back to read it again. I loved those years too, they can’t come back. In 1961 I was getting out of the Army in April, after spending five years in. Then I was driving a 1951 Ford sedan that my dad had given me. Four kids and Army pay, I wasn’t into buying new cars.

    When I leave, I’ll leave you a list of my cars that I have or am gone through. When I was drafted in 1956 as a college dropout working the Elgin National Watch Factory I had a NEW 1956 Convertible, but my car payments were more than my Army pay. That one I had traded my 1952 Ford Tudor, Hot-rodded to outrun the 55’s and plus Chevys and other GM cars. So I traded the 56 in for a paid for 1950 Jimmie Dean Black Mercury Tudor. It almost lasted the five years but Dad’s car would be more reliable.

    Yes, we cruised, local cops now give the youth tickets for driving on the same street the same direction. That drove our daughter down to Galveston to hang out with the others that had gone down there. I drove my dad’s pickup in my junior year of high school in from the country. My driver license was limited but I stretched it a little bit. Only had three wrecks in those two years, none was my fault.

    Cars I have owned List. Scroll down to the last portion of the post.
    You can search this blog for “car” or “cars” as I have storied a bit about some, especially the Mustang Convertible. It was my retirement present from me to me, a convertible partly because of having to give up my first one back in ’56 so early on.
    https://jimmiehov.blogspot.com/2019/07/the-letter-c-weekend-roundup-and.html
    ..

    1. Enjoy the read Jim. The red ‘57 Chevy convertible is mot my actual car, but it is exactly the same in every way, including the continental kit on the back. I lost a scrapbook of pics I had of a bunch of important things including my cars I owned. I will find some photos online and post in the future the top 10 favorites I owned. You had some cool rides my friend!

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