The best toy I ever had was A

My Grandfather ran a Saw sharpening, Glass cutting, and Lawnmower repair company.  He was a survivor from the Depression.  He once told me that after he got married to my grandmother he had to take the only job he could find.  That job was in a Rendering plant.  Those of you from non rural backgrounds may not know what that is, and to be truthful I only know from his description.  Then that was where they took the farm animals who had died or were too sick to save.  The critter was processed to retrieve the Lard or Tallow or whatever name given to the fat from that species.  So picture this, working in a place that cooks rotting animals to retrieve the fat.  I guess the fat has some kind of industrial uses, but probably not for making Pizza.  They had a garden that could feed 20 for a year.  But that is not the topic for today.

The contraption is.  Pop H.(grandpa) built it for me.  That is a sad copy of it in the picture below.  To me the 200 shot Dasiy Red Rider repeating carbine from A Christmas Story paled in comparison.  (I had both so I can make that statement)

These young drivers are about 2 and 4 when this picture was taken.  No safety gear, no brakes no guard on the drive belt.  And the best toy I ever had.  My contraption lasted from when I was about 4 until I was too big to fit behind the steering wheel.  Probably about age 13.  It was great.  I wore out 3 or 4 B&S 3.5 hp engines over the years,  Countless tires who knows how many tones of carbon I reintroduced to the atmosphere helping to warm the planet.  I liked it so much I built the one above for my sons.  An old Cooper-Clipper reel-type lawn mower sacrificed its life for my sons entertainment.  Later in life it sprouted 600/6 aircraft tires for the back and it looked like a little drag racing rail.  Josh was light enough to do wheelies and leave black marks with it (He was about 3).  (calm down Diana it only goes about as fast as you can walk)

Here is a picture of the car some friends gave us to use in 1999.  Smoky Joe as this Voayger came to be known was a good car.  It needed Valve guides so if it idled for long it earned its name. (usually by fogging the intersection where you were waiting on the green light)  In Ven we could have earned extra cash by adding insecticide to the oil and renting it out as a Mosquito fogger.  We didn't drive it much for that reason as West Nile virus had not hit yet and fogging Mosquitos was not an appreciated practice in Colorado then.  Smokey Joe was a dependable car, got reasonable gas milage and seated 7.  Our older son learned to drive in that car.  We passed it along to another needy person who fixed the Valve Guides and we saw it around town for several years following that.

Then came the Blue Bug, our oldest sons first car.  The Turbo Diesel part made it ok for a guy to drive.  It also burnt oil but it was by design.  It got 45 to 48 mpg so we saved a lot on fuel but due to the constant requirement to purchase parts to keep it running it was not such an economical car to own.  

The younger son learned to drive in this one, as it is also 2wd he learned how to dig out when it got stuck.  Known as Larry Boy for obvious reasons it soldiers on today unless something has happened he hasn't told us about yet.

 last but not least is the  Gherkin.  No real story here it was not mine but I did like the way the front suspension broke for no reason with no warning so I threw in the picture.  It had the GM version of ABS which in this case stood for anti stop brakes.  I still remember the looks on the policemen in the toyota as the Gherkins brakes did nothing while I mashed the brake peddle to the floor trying not to rear end them.  Luckily for all of us they cleared the pothole and accelerated away just as I rolled into it so I missed them by 6 or 8 feet.  A genuine light duty GM vehicle.  The paved roads in Venezuela shook it to pieces.  I never managed to finish the trip across Venezuela to Puerto Ordaz without buying tires or bus tickets to finish the trip.  Buen viaje amigos.