Old pickup hauls childhood memories back to the forefront
As a small boy, Ed Flynn spent many a happy summer on a lake and in the cab of a 1941 Dodge pickup.
His mother grew up on a dairy farm in southern Vermont and spent her summers on a small private lake there, named Lake Shaftsbury. “It was owned by the James family and they had about 10 cabins on the property,” says Ed, who now lives in Mount Prospect. Every June, July and August, from the time he was 7 until he was 14, his family retreated from their then-Maryland home to the waterside locale.
“Mr. James had two sons,” recalls Ed. “Both were school teachers and, with summers off, spent it helping around the camp. They both drove Dodge pickups — one red, one green.”
Looking to pitch in, little Ed volunteered to help with the chores. His assignment was garbage collection. “The son with the green truck would come pick me up every day at my parent's cabin at 7 a.m.,” Ed recalls. “I'd jump inside and off we'd go.”
The pair would make the rounds, stopping to load the grounds' garbage bins into the truck's bed. From there, they'd motor way out into the thick woods to the designated landfill and dump it all out. The trips typically ended with the guys going out and getting a celebratory soda or ice cream cone.
One morning, this routine run contained some extra excitement. “A mother bear and her two cubs ambled up,” he says. “The son instructed me to get in the truck and don't come out.” After some banging together of trash can lids, the bears moved on, but the memory never left the wide-eyed boy who had crouched down in the truck's seat.
Things changed in a big way the summer Ed turned 11. “The son told me, 'Now that your legs are long enough to reach the pedals, I'm going to teach you to drive.' ” Bouncing around the camps' dirt paths is where Ed dialed in his wheelmanship — and he flat out loved it.
Life on the lake was good for the rambunctious teen who continued to visit the vacation getaway with his family until the summer of 1969. Later that winter, the camp's owner passed away and shortly thereafter, the property was sold to the state.
All those boyhood experiences stayed with Ed and in 2014 he found the perfect ride to bring them to life. A Decatur farmer left a green 1941 Dodge in his estate and Ed and his wife, Joann, were able to buy it.
Since the purchase, the Flynns have upgraded their memory-making rig, adding disc brakes, a 327-cubic-inch V-8 out of a 1966 Chevy Malibu and a three-speed automatic shifter.
The pair cruises all over the suburbs and surrounding areas, enjoying trips to Woodstock and Lake Geneva and Racine, Wisconsin. One place they haven't traveled is back to Lake Shaftsbury, which is now a Vermont state park.
“I'd love to go with the truck,” says Ed, “but I'd have to take the back roads. That's the best kind of driving.”
• Share your car's story with Matt at auto@dailyherald.com or COPOthebook.com.
Daily Herald Cruise Night season opener
More than 175 classic car enthusiasts drove their vehicles to Randhurst Village in Mount Prospect on Wednesday for the first Daily Herald Cruise Night of the season.
• Ed and Joann Flynn and their 1941 Dodge pickup, featured here, won the Matt Avery's Pick award.
• The Randhurst Village Pick trophy was awarded to David and Janis Schmadebeck of Prospect Heights for their 1973 American Motors Corp. AMX Javelin.
• Upcoming cruises are July 17, Aug. 21 and Sept. 18 at Stratford Square Mall in Bloomingdale.