Born To Be a Newspaper Man
by Martin J. McGowan Jr.
A Cheap Way Home
In my days at Notre Dame the Studebaker automobile was manufactured in South Bend. This provided some unusual opportunities for ND students.
Trips home were expensive and few trips were taken during the year. The foreign students from the Philippines and China never went home during their four years. However, if American students could find a situation where a Studebaker dealer in their home town or area wanted a car delivered this saved money for the students and the dealer. Returning home one summer I found such a situation.
The dealer in Montevideo wanted a car delivered. A friend in St. Paul, Howie Petchel, also worked out a deal. Another friend from Virginia, MN, a football player named Nick Peplnjak, from Virginia, Minn., was asked to deliver two cars in tandem, one behind the other. His trip proved to be quite an odyssey. He got his cars at the factory late in the day and started for Minnesota.
Like most Notre Dame students who were barred from the bars, he soon developed a thirst. Since it was after nightfall he saw some lights in the distance and assumed he was nearing Chicago. Spotting the sign of a tavern, he pulled his two cars to the side and went in to partake of some thirst-quenchers. After a few he decided he had better be on his way. After about two hours more of driving he saw more bright lights. This time to his amazement he found himself back in South Bend. He quickly turned around again and once more started for home.
For a coincidence I later employed Nick's cousin as a reporter at Blue Earth for one summer. She was a good reporter and I wished I could have found a permanent spot for her.
I had no destination problems. My car was available early in the day. The factory put governors on these cars to hold down the speed, not wanting the cars to be worn out when they were delivered. On the other hand, my car at least had overdrive in it so it was possible to travel at a fair rate of speed. I took the car home to Appleton when I arrived and delivered the car to the Montevideo dealer the next day.
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