Thrill Pilot

Doc Lambert and his Corvette "Ann"

              Flying low over the trees along the Mekong Delta in an O-2 Cessna certainly trained the young lieutenant's rear end to feel every rise and fall of the machine around him. Flying observation missions and spotting for bombing aircraft, the small twin engined craft taught him nuances and the technical aspects of flying. It also left him with a love for the sensation of speed.

  After surviving his tour in Vietnam, "Doc" Lambert did what every respectable military pilot did. He bought himself a Corvette. His favorite had been the 1962 model, but he found the cockpit was a little small for his size. He owned a succession of newer model cars till he saw the Classic Reflection Coachworks design of a 1962 Corvette. He eventually found himself a 2003 Anniversary C-5 model with a tan interior and had his own vintage 'Vette built instead. The company uses the supplied car and replaces the body work, creating an old look on a newer chassis.
   There are some noticeable differences to the enthusiast from an original car. Monstrous tires, big disc brakes and a racked windscreen are the most obvious, but the overall feel is the same and the rumble from the tailpipes brings back boyhood memories racing down country lanes with wind in the hair and bugs in the teeth.
   Those sensations are what Doc is looking for more than the authentic serial numbers and original carpet liners of a classic car. Now he keeps the sensors in his rear sharp by sliding around SOLO courses and gymkhanas and driving his pride and joy.

 

Classic Car

The road winds with lazy esses into the slough. Across a rickety old bridge and up the other bank is the big, wide world. Before the introduction of the Model A, that brain child of industrial pioneer Henry Ford it was a long way off. You had to strap on a sturdy pair of shoes for a long walk or get some callouses on the hands from all the hay and manure shoveling to keep the four legged propulsion moving. The novelty of the car for everyman was the shrinking of the world around us. It gave access to what was on the other side, across a continent with a modicum of effort. Turn the key and explore the world. With the implementation of Ford's ideas for mass production assembly lines his startup was able to manufacture more than 4.3 million of the vehicles in a short 4 years. Spreading mobility among the masses of a newly curious country. The example that Meg Hildenberger drives transports her back to those years before the great depression when the eyes of an entire country were opened to the possibilities up the other side.

The Crash

The world blurs by in streaks of color. Breeze is refreshing and helps to cool me off. Thigh muscles pumping hard have the lungs pulling big gulps of air. A big swash of blue sky. Bold strokes of autumn everywhere. The car ahead forms a block of sparkling gold. The light overhead a splash of green to go with it. Instantly it turns dirty, dark and a shade of ugly red as an object slices into the frame. An ear piercing scream, shocking the volume that woman can muster. Then it goes quiet. That really scary quiet of the inside of the mind. No sound at all, no cars honking, no phones ringing, no crickets chirping, just silence. I know I am not deaf. There were noises before, but now it is just dead. Then I feel it, but not the pain that I would expect with a crash. I feel the whip. The crash test dummy kind of flailing. Arms and legs snapping with a crack. The body stops in mid-air but the mind doesn’t. I was flying along, wind in the face, wheels spinning fast. Now I am hanging in the air, in limbo somewhere above the ground. Wrapped around an dirty red metal frame with bright little glass crystals exploding everywhere. Unsure which way I am going. My body bent around the middle. Arms are stretched by the momentum. Reaching for nothing. I thought my hands were on the bars? My senses shift as I drift backwards incredibly slowly. A slow motion floating movement, void of any control. Where am I going? What happened to all the laws of physics; gravity, inertia, laws of attraction? Is this my spirit floating away? The impact hits me hard. Really hard. Air explodes from deep in my chest. The rest of my body follows to the ground. Arms slap, legs crash with a smack and ultimately I feel a thud as my helmet hits the ground. The strings are still attached, the parts are all still there but I have lost control of my marionette. Where is the handle? I have to get it together, get that handle back in my hand. The sound comes rushing back in a booming blast. Noises are everywhere and come from every direction; engines, people, sirens, screams. I hear a scream of anguish. I recognize that tenor, same pitch as before the silence. Still excruciatingly loud next to me but now it includes the tinge of fear. Then I hear the voice of concern. Soothing, caring, struggling to stay calm. “Are you okay? Can you move?” The voice is distant and slow, the words sticky. I can get this under control if I can just grab a handful of those strings. The world around me rushes back to normal speed. Nothing has changed but everything is different. I struggle to lift a leg, move an arm, fight to expand my chest. Just get it heaving, the stagnant air suffocates like a blanket. My marionette is out of control. Tangled strings in an unused pile on the asphalt around me. I need help, some serious help.