My LIttle Brother Chester came along when I was in high school, so I wasn't around during most of his growing up. I watched Captain Kangaroo when I was little; he watched Sesame Street. One of the things Dad learned from the three older kids was that sixteen year old kids tend to tear up cars. When Chester got close to sixteen, Dad found an old mail jeep and fixed it up for him. It was a pretty neat vehicle, and I even bought an alternator for it and installed it for Chester. It was a good car for a kid to drive to school, but Chester hated it. He drove it hard, but he couldn't destroy it, no matter how hard he tried. I heard about jumps he made with it over rural railroad crossings, but the jeep always made it home.
Dad took pity on him and fixed him up with something better. This project started as a worn out and used up Camaro. There weren't very many things that didn't need fixed, and Dad and I built the 350 engine during a vacation visit in 1985. I have done several engine rebuilds over the years, but this is the only one that was field tested at 135 miles per hour. I guess Dad and I torqued everything right. Chester traded it off for something more practical when he got married. I bet he would like to have it back now. Happy 44th, Chester. If you want to help my little brother feel better about being 44 years old, order a couple carats from him on a pretty gold bauble. He does nice work, and his number is on the left side of the page. He doesn't go 135 mph nowadays, but he did get a 1 mph speeding ticket from a camera in Iowa City.
UPDATE: We heard from Chester after he read this little writeup, and he adds: "
But one correction needs to be made... The Camaro would go 140! Never could get the speedo buried, it went to 150. Thanks again -C"
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