The dusty 'grass-in-the-middle' driveway came up all too quickly. These trips to Maple Hill are getting shorter, I thought, 'bout an hour and 15 minutes from Shallotte, and that includes pulling my trailer. Honestly, it was kind of sentimental, this would likely be my last expedition to the Chadwick family farm. This trip would, hopefully, rescue the last of the derelict Ford coupe race cars of Mr. Norwood Chadwick. There are a couple more coupes, and there's also a '64-ish Fairlane late model, but even in my half-full-glass mentality, they are all past their prime......except for the one I'm after on this trip.

Sometimes, I like to be a lone-eagle, a solo act, and this was one of them times. I really wanted to savor all this trip would offer.......just me and my wits, and a '36 Ford coupe, no wheels, axles, nothing. Just resting quietly on its rusty frame rails. Could I pull this off, single-handedly? I thought so, and had brought everything I could think of that I would need...........weed eater, tree saw (yes), shears, wooden blocks, two jacks, chain hoist, tool box, sling blade, hat, sweat band, T-shirt, iced-down water and Pepsi filled cooler, electrical winch (that I knew was underpowered for this job), and four 10" wide racing wheels that I hoped would serve as rollers for the old coupe to make its way on to my trailer........if I really got that far, but the glass is half full, right?

"If I hear anybody hollering 'HELP', or see any smoke............I'll know it's you........down there with that old car......It sure is hot today..........." Mrs. Chadwick reassured me as I had stopped by her house to announcing my arrival, and my old-car-saving-intentions. Not to worry, I thought......I'm prepared, I've got water and ice....I'm prepared! About 5 minutes into the retrieval process, I realized two, maybe three things I'd forgot.......rags, and 'Go-Jo' hand cleaner and this was going to be a down and dirty process.

The first step was to get to the old girl. Pine trees grow pretty fast in North Carolina, and so do sweet-gums. There was an impressive sweet-gum growing right through the missing floor-board and right out of the canvas-less hole in the coupe's roof. There were lots of pine saplings too, surrounding the coupe,but one of the larger ones, had begun its life under the rear bumper and was growing, from underneath, at such an angle, that moving the car forward would be impossible unless this tree was removed.. Remember, I've got a sling blade and a hand-powered pruning saw. The sling blade did make quick work of the dog-fennels and the golden rods and the vines and the potent briars, and got me up close and personal with the various trees whose removal was vital.

"Man" I exclaimed to nobody, "I'm not in as good a shape as I thought......." after the sling-blading excercise, and simultaneously reaching for the pruning saw.....while keeping an eye out for snakes. North Carolina, among other notable facts, is home to every poisonous snake in North America. About the same time I was reminding myself of the snake fact, I was remembering I'd forgot one other little teeny thing.........the fist aid kit.....the anti-blood-coagulating drug, cumudin, I've been taking for the last couple months, has made 'free-bleeding' new reality. "I a'int got time to worry 'bout mess like that........" I hmmped to myself.... "times a-wastin'."

Trees and brush were cleared, the old girl was quickly jacked up, the trailer backed underneath, and the chain hoist-turned-horizontal finished the rest of the job. Two hours after the project began, I was strapping the luckiest coupe in North Carolina to my trailer. I drove back to see Mrs. Chadwick, limped and huffed up her three back steps and paid her for the car. "We got three of them......." I exclaimed......"I know you did" she replied in a reassuring and appreciative tone. It was fun, I'd pulled off the solo flight, the future was bright, another old race car had been saved!

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