Pense Donc!!

UP, UP, UP . . .

Gasoline prices are changing almost daily, and for the past few weeks it’s all been up.

It had climbed to $3.52 per gallon at one local station on Monday, a jump of about 80 cents from last April, an increase of 30 percent.

Coincidently, I saw a piece in last week’s automotive section of The Advocate on a 1957 Isetta, similar to the one I drove while attending USL back in 1961-63. It brought back fond memories ... and regret that I don’t still have the little car to tool around in.

Younger readers might recognize it as the car that Steve Erkel drove on the Family Matters sitcom in the early 1990s.

The little car, which was actually manufactured by BMW, had a wheelbase of only 61 inches, making it about as long as a regular car is wide. The whole front end was the door, which swung open. The steering wheel was attached to the door, and a universal joint enabled it to move out with the door. It was neat being able to park head-in to the curb and step right out onto the sidewalk.

The single bench seat could hold three people (snugly) and I actually double dated in it a few times. That was, of course, before seatbelt laws.

The little car was powered by a one-cylinder engine — 18.1-cubic-inch air-cooled that cranked out 13 horsepower. It weighed 860 pounds, so four beefy college guys could actually pick it up, and from time to time I’d have to get the campus police to help me track it down when some of my “friends” would try to hide it from me.

The car had no gauges other than a speedometer. When the 3.2 gallon fuel tank would run low and the engine started missing, you’d reach back and flip a lever to switch over to the reserve tank, which probably held a half gallon or so. There was lots of glass and the side windows would slide open. Mine also had a canvas sunroof to let air and sunshine in.

The article said the car sold for about $1,100, averaged about 60 miles per gallon and had a top speed of more than 60 mph. Mine wouldn’t go much more than 45 and I never calculated the mpg. But I do remember that I’d fill it up once a week for about 65 cents ... gasoline was about 30 cents a gallon at the time!

Ahh, the good old days!!

THIS & THAT

Nation’s Capital – On Monday and Tuesday of our 3½ days in Washington, D.C., we visited just about every public monument in the city, as well as the Capitol, three of the Smithsonian museums, the Holocaust Museum, Bureau of Engraving and Printing and the National Archives, where the original Declaration of Independence and other historical documents are exhibited under very tight security.

As an old printer, I really enjoyed the opportunity to see our nation’s currency being printed, as you could follow the entire process, from the blank sheets to the finished product. Did you know that the Washington plant, along with another facility in San Antonio, Texas, print up $700 million in paper money every day?!

It was my first visit to the Holocaust Museum and it was a very sobering experience. Because of the long lines I was not able to read as much of the material that accompanied the excellent exhibits as I would have liked. Maybe on my next visit.

After another long wait in line we were able to get into the Capitol. We got to sit in the gallery of the House of Representatives and walk through the Rotunda that separates the House from the Senate chambers. The granite and metal statuary and massive artwork are truly stunning.

More on our visits to the other “new” monuments including the Vietnam Wall, Korean War, WWII, U.S. Air Force monument near the Pentagon and the very interesting Franklin D. Roosevelt monument in coming weeks.