To the Max!

By Virgil Leisure

In my younger days, when I was just a lad of 15 years, one of the infamous "Class of 52"; the days
of hot rods, drive-ins and Coca Cola, I acquired a 1931 Model A Ford roadster. Well, the next
day, after I towed it home, it was a mass of parts all over the garage floor; not one item was left
unassembled. I stripped that "sucker" to the bones. 

Into a trash heap went the mechanical brakes, shocks, engine, transmission, front axle, steering wheel,
rear fenders, front fenders, and running board. Then, I welded an "x" crossmember to the frame. I
added hydraulic brakes from a Lincoln, 34 Ford front axle and wishbones, Mercury radiator, hydraulic
shocks and steering wheel, and last but not least, a Red Seal Continental engine. I designed my own
dual intake manifold. I milled the head, ported and releaved the block and chopped the flywheel. I
designed the first ever "Stick Adapter" for a column shift transmission. When I was finished it was a 
beauty to behold with it's tuck and roll corduroy upholstery and 800 x 16 rubber in the rear.

Why mess around with a 20 year old car?  Well, some things you just have to take to the MAX. My
Commodore is like that! I just have to take it to  the MAX! Nothing is obsolete if you can "Hop It Up"
I always say. I REBEL when I can't fool with it; when it tells ME what I can do! Take a PC for
instance, running on Windows 95, all of those windows popping up, select this, select that, if you don't
see it TOO BAD buddy! UGH! GRRRR! Oh it's a beautiful thing to behold alright; like that new car,
beautiful, powerful, fast, but lift up the hood, FORGET IT MAN!

How did I get like this? Well, I grew up during the Depression Era and WW II. You just didn't run to
the store and buy it. If you wanted it and needed it you made it. Made most of my own toys. Made a
cart from boxes and wagon wheels. Made a scooter from roller skates and a 2 x 4. Made my own bow
and arrows. Hey, I would try to make anything. I had so much fun I was beside myself. 

My grandson came to me the other day with a long face. "I'm bored," he said. UGH! GRRR! "Son," I
said, "Your boredom is exceeded only by your unimaginativeness." I knew he didn't understand, so we
sat down and made paper airplanes.

I learned electronics when I was 9 years old from The Radio Amateurs Handbook. Listened to the
radio for free with the crystal set I made. Got an award in high school, a gold medal in industrial arts,
for designing and building a multitester. You're really popular when you can DO things, everyone brings
things to you. You get invited to dinner a LOT...especially when I got into fixing TVs. I wrote my first
computer program when I got that Sinclair 1000; OF COURSE I upgraded it with that memory
module! Along came Commodore 64 and 128. This is my Nemesis. I've been working with it for over
10 years. I haven't even touched the things I can do with this contraption. CMD ( Creative Micro
Designs), they just keep adding fuel to the fire. Boy I just gotta get my hands on that Super CPU 128!
Gotta take this thing to the MAX! How can a person DARE to have SO much fun.