My High School Ride

A grew up in the small hamlet of Roseisle, Manitoba. Located 20 minutes west of Carman, it was a unique place to grow up. It was remote enough that driving laws were more a suggestion than a clear line to cross. As such, I was driving around the community by the age of 13. Some of this was sanctioned by my parents, however most of my driving happened when mom and dad would be gone for whatever reason. We went through a few vehicles in the years that we lived there. I took my drive test in a Chevy Citation, yet the vehicle that formed most of my driving experience was a baby blue 1976 Datsun 620 pick-up truck. We bought just before my older brother started driving.

This little gem of a truck, complete with plastic front quarter-panels, a rusted out floor, and a simple 4-speed manual transmission, features prominent in many stories of my early driving escapades. While there are many stories of that truck outside of my experience, I remember some absolutely amazing moments.

The blue Datsun taught me how to shift manual. The gearing on the transmission was low enough that I could pop the clutch in 1st year without my foot on the gas pedal and it would jerk a bit and start moving down the road. This low gearing combined with a fairly light box made it easy to break the rear tires loose for a tire-squealing burn-out. I think dad was a bit surprised when we wore through the rear tires fairly quickly.

Most of the time we kept a cap covering the box of the truck. This allowed us to carry stuff out of the elements. It also provided needed weight to keep the back end of the truck from wanting to come to the front when on ice. In order to prevent our feet from going straight through the rotten floor we cut and fitted a piece of plywood that would fit under the pedals. It kept most of the water out. Some rug and a floor mat on top of that made it a very functional truck.