Mitchell’s Riverside Car Wash

By 1950 Mitchell and Hazel gave up on making a living in Newton County and in December they moved away.  Like so many others, they moved to the Kansas City area to work in factories.  Mitchell went to work for Sheffield Steel where he made more money than he ever would in Jasper.  In fact, things went well enough that in 1956 he bought his first new car, a 1956 Chevrolet Bel Air.  It even had a Poweglide automatic transmission.  He, Tom, Billie Morris, and J.C. Hudson all bought new Chevrolets that year.  Yea, car nuts, four brand new 1956 Chevrolets.  They were great cars alright and they were also reliable for the trips back to Arkansas at least once a month.  I think it also helped show all the folks back in Newton County that going to Kansas City might not be as bad an idea as first thought.

Trips back home were a regular occurrence and Dad always made certain to drive to town a couple of times so people would see his new car.  That was one reason he went.   I suspect another reason was to drop by Uncle Walter’s and pick up a little alcohol.  Newton County was and still is a dry county, but Walter always had a little extra to share.  Mitchell would take the kids fishing, swimming, or just for a ride in order to show the brand new car off to his old friends.

One trip he decided to take Velma Francis and Tony swimming.  They drove right down to the Little Buffalo River under the Jasper Bridge.  After playing in the water awhile, Mitchell suggested they wash the car.  To make it more fun, he backed the car right down to the water’s edge.  Actually, he put the rear wheels in the water.  Mitchell must have enjoyed whatever he picked up from Walter because he sat in the shade and watched while the kids washed and played around the car.  When it came time to leave, we piled in and away we went.  At least that was the plan.  Evidently, the tires began to spin and Mitchell must have panicked.

Remember that Powerglide automatic transmission?  The early  GM automatic transmissions did not have the same arrangement of gears on the selector that most cars have today.  Most today start at the top with park and continue with R for reverse, N for neutral, D for Drive and L or 1 for low gear.  The early General Motors automatic only had 2 forward speeds not 3, 4, or 5 like today’s transmissions.  In those early years the selector order was Park, Neutral, Drive, Low, and Reverse.  Yes, if you pulled the lever all the way down it was in reverse.

When the tires spun, the car slipped a little further into the Little Buffalo.  Velma was scared of the water and began to scream thinking we would all surely drown or float clear to the Arkansas River.  Mitchell had driven old column stick shifts for years and the low (power) gear was located at the bottom position of the lever. He jerked the lever down and stepped on the gas.  The brand new Chevy almost became a brand new boat.  It lurched backward into the river.  Water began running in around the doors.  Velma was screaming, “We’re all gonna die!” and I was starting to believe her.  Mitchell struggled to get the car back in a forward gear and headed the other way as water began to rise into our laps.  Of course by now it was a lost cause and with two screaming kids he was not going to win this battle between him and the river.  He got us out of the car and made a few more attempts before he too was sitting in water over his lap.  The car was still running but the rear tires were not getting any traction.  The whole rear deck and back seat were under water and the front seat bottom was covered.  Mitchell gave up when the water level reached the dash.   He walked up to the service station and got a wrecker to pull his new 1956 Chevrolet out of the river.  It was a great car but not a very good boat.

I don’t remember Mitchell ever taking another car down to the river for washing.  That was not the only time that 56 Chevy was under water, but I will save that story for another time.


And that's the way I heard it on the mountain,
Tony Peoples