Up Up and Away
Like most students, I was very poor. I drove a 1955 Ford sedan, that Ken kept running using his superior automotive knowledge and regular runs to the "junk yard" for parts. One day, after checking the oil and water, I forgot to latch the hood down completely, and when driving down the road, the hood flew up and smacked into the windshield. Scared me to bits, but we manage to wrestle the hood back down and get home. Not being able to afford a replacement hood, from then on I drove the car with a seriously bent hood, tied down with rope. This allowed water to get into the hood hinge area and without our knowledge, rusted the hinges to the point of failure.

I have tried to learn from mistakes, but sometimes it takes making the same mistake more than once to get the idea. So, one day I again forgot to tie the hood down with the rope. I was driving south on Junipero Serra Blvd, just south of Hicky Blvd, when the hood came loose. I was doing about 50 or 6 MPH as I had not yet managed to lighten up my lead foot. Since there were no hinges for it to pivot on, the entire hood became airborne, and traveled along at the same speed as the car. As I watched in horror and fascination, the entire hood lifted up about a foot above the car, and just hovered there for a few seconds. Very slowly then, the hood began to bank, lift, and ultimately just sailed away over a backyard fence.

Since I had no insurance of any kind, and was terrified of consequences, I just continued on my way in shock. Ken's face when I got home was amazing. We poured over the local newspaper for days afterwards hoping that we would not find a story about a home owner decapitated by a flying car hood, a crushed pet, or worse. Nothing ever came to light in the papers or radio/TV news, but I can imagine the poor homeowner who found a bent car hood, with a rope still attached to the front, laying in their back yard. I'll bet that story is part of their family legacy.