Lance Lambert
�The Vintage Vehicle Show�

FLOATING, FLYING & FRATERNIZING

OK, here�s the deal; you take four aging hot rodders, add a funky houseboat, ancient airplane, super sports car and what happens?

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to spend five days with three of my best high school buddies. Hector (not his real name) lives in a houseboat on the Columbia River and has a 1979 Grumman Tiger airplane to entertain his pals. Gunter (not his real name) flew in from Washington, D.C., to join in the melee and Obadiah (not his real name) extracted himself from the social cave he�d been hiding in for 40 years to spend some quality time with his less than quality friends from the olden days. It was going to be the perfect vacation and we were equipped with all the essential tools; floating accommodations, winged transportation, impressive sports car and beer. Perfect!

Gunter arrived at my Seattle doorstep and we sped off in a borrowed 2007 Mitsubishi Eclipse GT Spyder on our Speed Racer bonsai run to Oregon�s Land of Ports. The best description of this classy four wheeled rocket is, well, it�s really classy and goes like a rocket. The combination of Japanese engineering and my overconfident belief in my driving ability provided Gunter with a reason to consider his return trip to be as a guest of Amtrak. In no time we slid sideways into Hectors driveway and made our way onto the USS Budweiser. Obadiah soon arrived and we all settled in to sitting, sipping and reminiscing about our days of high school sub-par scholastic accomplishments and automotive near death experiences.

Gunter, known since high school as �Crazy� (not his real nickname), once again shared the story of removing the roof from his 1948 Chevrolet four door sedan, loading the six passenger �convertible� with 10 of his buddies, and careening around the neighborhood as the Chevy�s altered roofline caused it to turn into a rusty metal Japanese paper crane.

Hector reminded us of his proud accomplishment of having thrown up out of the window of every one of his high school buddies cars, an honor only surpassed by his reputation of being able to destroy the rear tires of his 1963 Plymouth Fury on a weekly basis. And Obadiah, long respected for his ability to not get beat up by his hot rod cronies for driving a 1959 VW, once again shared his expertise of where in the VW�s engine compartment to keep the pizza warm and where in the trunk to keep the beer cold.

I (not my real name) once again spun and embellished the tale of how Kayleen (yep, that�s her real name) would remind me that no, my 1954 Oldsmobile ownership was not the reason that she tolerated me and, in fact, she still dated me despite my ownership of a car then known affectionately as �The Boat Anchor� by Hector, Gunter and Obadiah.

The sojourn was finished out with a laugh & terror filled flight in the 27 year old airplane, more beer bottles sent floating down the Mighty Columbia, and fond farewells shouted from the seat of the Japanese dream machine as it faded into the Portland sunset. Sounds to me like we created five brand new �good old days�.

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