Chapter 19 (Part 1) - Nicks Custom '49 Chevy

CHAPTER 19 [PART 1] ACCIDENTAL DEATH OR UNMENTIONABLE ?

MEMORY LANE -- AUTOMOBILE DEALERSHIP -

DECEMBER 1953 to JUNE 1955

Tom C. the foreman that would fire me in June 1955 would later be found dead in the automobile dealership parking lot !!!!!!!!! ........

It was December of 1953 when I met John, a young man that came from Italy and had a job working in the body and fender department of this dealership located on Steinway Street in Astoria, NY.......I met John only because he had just purchased a 1949 Chevrolet from Bob who would many times park his car in Astoria Park and I would always see and admire this car as it was the same year as my dad's car, a 1949 torpedo back Chevy that had the same Cadillac rear fenders installed by its owner Bob.......It was by chance that I would meet John in the streets of Astoria that night, while I was driving by this Caddy fendered Chevy that John now owned and I wanted to talk to the owner.......John was doing some work on this car at the time and that would give me the opportunity to stop and speak with him as this was the same car that I always admired in the past in Astoria Park........

John saw the interest that I had in his car and the general interest that I had in automobiles so that he then offered to speak with his foreman Larry to see if I could be hired at this dealership to work in the body and fender department......I agreed, as I was recently laid off from another body and fender shop due to my having to take time off to help my dad on his job, as he had lost his finger in a truck tailgate accident.......[but that's another story]..........When I went to see Larry [foreman] at this body and fender shop he hired me immediately as he was the kind of tough cigar smoking character that enjoyed helping young people in need of work........

One of the first cars I worked on was the new 1953 Corvette that was introduced to the public in late 1953........The body of the Corvette was not made of steel like most cars were of that time, but instead was made of some sort of plastic resin [new] that required a different type of repair process after being in an accident.......At only age 18 years and an apprentice at this dealership I was the guy that would dismantle damaged automobiles and then the body and fender master would actually do the repair work involved..........If I purhased one of these Corvette cars back in 1953 and kept it in a garage I can't imagine the value of it today.......[wishful thinking].........

See "The Graduate" video below concerning plastics as the FUTURE

1953 Chevy Corvette

At the dealership, I wanted to learn the trade so badly that at lunch time I would go into the the paint shop and use their equipment to learn that end of the business rather than have lunch.......Larry the foreman noticed my enthusiasm and one day when Tom P. the paint department foreman was out, Larry would put me in this part of the shop to head up the business while also giving me a raise in pay..........When Tom P. came back to work we hit it off great and I was kept in this department........Tom P. was a World War Two hero/veteran and he showed me the many scars on his legs, upper body and arms to prove his combat wounds....He would also later bring in a newspaper clipping that would highlight one of his hero experiences during the war..........

I would spray paint many new '54 and '55 Chevy two tone paint jobs during those years.........

I can also recall at one incident I was asked by Larry the forman to drive an elderly senior citizen to her home as she apparently was having a senior moment due to her age...I was given a fairly new car to tranport her and after dropping her off at her home a new song by Tony Bennett came on the car radio called "Stranger in Paradise"......Tony Bennett grew up in Astoria not too far from where I lived with my folks......Just before recording this song Tony worked as a waiter in a restaurant that I believe was called "Riccardo's" located near Astoria Park.....Between this 1953 song and the new loan car I was driving, I felt like I was on top of the world......

......Tony Bennett being the great guy and singer that he is, never forgot his roots or the town of Astoria where he grew up and started his singing career as a singing waiter at Riccardo's.....Please see "Tony's Roots video" following this paragraph......

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/26/nyregion/26bennett.html

While I'm at naming celebrities from Astoria I might also mention Christopher Walken's family owned and operated Walkens Bakery off 31st street on Broadway just around the corner from where my dad and mom owned their home on 31st street....Although I don't recall ever meeting Mr. Walken, he was a part of Joe Spinnel's life just as Sylvester Stallone also was, as they were all young actors all waiting for the right opportunity to fall upon them.....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Walken

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxX8WDsBTf8 ...10 Walken films...6.26 minutes

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Spinell

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvester_Stallone

I recently recalled an important incident for this dealership that occurred in 1955 when Chevrolet designed their completely new 1955 Chevy (see photo below)....Their promotional plan to sell many Chevys that year was to have one of these model '55s on a flatbed high off the ground while they added many speakers on Steinway street where the dealership was located and continuously play the popular recording of that time period of "Mr. Sandman Send Me A Dream".....I believe this promotion really worked for this dealership as I can recall spray painting many '55 Chevy roof tops in order to co-ordinate two tones Colors for that year....Below in the video section of this Chapter you will find this "Mr. Sandman" song for your listening pleasure.....

I enjoyed working at this dealership as it was close to home in Astoria, I enjoyed the artistic work, and most of the guys were all friendly and eager to help one another out when ever it was required......I can recall an instance when I was changing my dads '49 Chevy into the custom car (See pictures above) that it became in 1955..... I was installing spot lights on the column next to the windshield on both sides of the car and it was necessary to drill holes in the windshield columns, but I was not aware that the column contained wiring for the many options in the car and one of the workers [Frank] would come to my aid........I can also recall some of the mishaps that would or might occur to a customers car and it would be repaired immediately before the customer would come back to pick up his/her car.......In one instance a car was being removed and driven from the mechanics shop that was on the other side of the street and some one accidentally pushed the down button for the garage door that ripped into the cars top.......That car had to be repaired and painted before the customer returned to pick up his car......Unfortunately these accidents occur quite frequently as some one working at a Ford Dealership recently confided in me, when I bought my Ford in for repairs several years ago, and he told me of a car falling off a lift while it was being repaired in their dealership.......Murphy's Law will time and time again prove that accidents do happen even in this business.......

With all the good perks that this job had, vacation, free Turkey at Thanksgiving, good salary etc, there would always be some one who was not happy on the job and they would go to the union [that we did not have] and try to get them into this non-union shop.......The AFL Union was called by some one [don't know who] and the AFL would come to our side of the street to get their foot in the door while the mechanics side of the street would call the CIO Union to get this union into the mechanics side of the street.......At the time these unions were separate independent unions and they would fight each other to get into this dealership.......This would be when the trouble would start at this location.....Meetings were held and a vote was requested to see which union would get into the dealership.......I voted neutral and my friend John refused to speak with me any longer as he had his own agenda.....Tough Larry [shop foreman] got fired and Tom C. would replace Larry as foreman.........Later Tom C. would fire/layoff several employees including me in June 1955.......[It is very possible that Tom C. really did me a favor without my even realizing it].........

I would go to work for another small body and fender shop where I only worked for several days........Apparently on my first day of work in that shop a car was spray painted with enamel paint [lacquer paint was usually used on cars as it dryed faster and had a nicer looking finish].......Enamel paint does not dry as fast as lacquer paint and cars painted with enamel should be spray painted in a segregated area with operating fans that remove the paint fumes from the rest of the shop.......Since the car had been painted with enamel in this shop with the rest of the cars present, the enamel over spray fumes would settle on all the cars in the shop and stick to all the car finishes........The orders given by the shop boss on my first day at work in this shop and to all the other employees was to cipher gasoline from any car in the shop and use it to remove the over spray on all the rest of the cars......

When trying to cipher the gasoline out of an automobile near by and not knowing the correct procedure I swallowed some of this nasty stuff and that would lead to be the end of my career as a painter.......Needless to say gasoline is extremely toxic and its a wonder that I am still here on earth typing this biography segment.......

I had obtained an office job several months later [Nov 1955] at a reputable Insurance Company in Manhattan........Approximately twenty years later [1975] when driving home from work in Staten Island on a Friday evening I suddenly had thoughts of Tom P. the paint shop foreman at this dealership........Ironically, the very next morning on Saturday while walking through a shopping mini mall in Staten Island, I thought I recognized Tom P. speaking to a young man......[psychic ?].......I approached Tom P. and after speaking to him it was in fact him........He now lived in Florida and had come up to Staten Island to visit his son, who had recently moved to this location.......[I remembered his son who had just been born while I worked at the Astoria dealership back in 1954].......It was at this current coincidental and strange meeting [1975] that Tom P. told me of Tom C. being found dead in the parking lot of the Astoria Automobile Dealership........The implication appeared to be that it was not of natural causes..........I have googled Tom C.'s full name with incident/dealership and came up with nothing..........It just may be that the story is too old to find any local news story on this incident.....?....... Nick ......9/15/11

To be continued in Chapter 19 (part 2)