Planes, Trains and Automobiles

All of the classes and studying were finally over! I had 12 years of school, 4 years of collage under my belt , so I thought all the worrying about late or almost over-due assignments was over! Then after all that, the Air Force decided I needed to spend another 11 months learning to read, write and speak Russian. Then  6 more months of technical language training. A few weeks of various survival schools and then they sent me to Okinawa! Where they speak Japanese, not Russian or English! I tried 3 days of Japanese language classes, but was just tired of learning, memorizing and study! So on to the social life. I was finished learning,fed up with school!


There was very little public transportation available on Okinawa. (still isn't as of 2019.) The solution seemed to be to buy a local car from a military dude transferring out, clean it up, use it and resell it when you transferred out.

1973 Larry and Toyota Publica in Okinawa

So I bought the above Toyota Publica, a 3-door van. I think it was a 1964. It had a 2 cylinder air-cooled engine and only a 5 gallon gas tank. I don't remember how much it cost, but it wasn't much. It wasn't as clean as it looked. Okinawa had an inspection rule that if the car had any visible rust, it could not be licensed and had to be scrapped. So the first thing was to find some matching paint and disguise the few rust spots that had been hidden from me when I bought it. At least the Publica was a dull gray color so that made it easier.

 Driving in a foreign country comes with a learning curve. The lanes were not the US standard of 10 foot at the time, but less than 8 feet wide. It was scary until I got used to the fact that nearly all cars were only 5 feet wide. Also the fastest speed limit on the island was 35 mph. The main highway was a 4 -lane road running most of the length of the island. The occasional American dump truck would come by and everyone had to pull over to let it pass because it was one and a half lanes wide. The turns and corners were sharper too. We were afraid that after getting used to 35 seeming fast that we would be afraid to drive 70 when we got back home. But the car widths, lane widths and curve radius difference made it seem the same speed.

I made good use of  my spare time in Okinawa. First I took up flying radio controlled airplanes. The flying field was several miles up the island from my Air Force barracks and from where we worked on the Army base. So I put lots of miles on the car driving back and forth. I met another hobbyist at the RC field, Phil. He had a wife and 2 sons in off-base housing. More importantly, he had an extra room for model building. He also had a small car but mostly we took my car to the flying field. The Publica was small. Sitting in the drivers seat I could put my shoulder against the window and tough my fingers to the passenger window. Most of the planes we built would fit in the car with out trouble. Until we built a pair of scale Piper Cub planes. The wingspan was almost 12 feet., so we made them slip together in the middle. When I took it to the field I had to go by my self as when I put it in the car, the wing half rested against the inside of the windshield and just touched the back door, laying flat across the passenger seat.

Phil and I with our Piper Cub models at his house.

Larry and his Piper Cub model

After a few months with the RC planes, it seemed that I liked building them more than flying. Phil did too. One of the Army bases had an entire quonset hut dedicated to the model railroad club. So we joined the club and started building HO size trains and scenery. I enjoyed making the scenery. I made a trestle  about 6 feet long and 8 inches high. And a work train to scale. I once had color slides of the railroad club, but no more.

There were many trips to the flying field in that car, There were also quite a few sight-seeing trips with my Air Force linguist friends. But only 3 or 4 at a time as the car was too small.

I was there 16 months. I don't remember who I bought it from or who I sold it to when I left. I do remember the inspection, the RC planes and the trips up and down the island. It was a fun little car. Maybe part of the reason I liked it is it reminded me of the '39 Chevy panel truck I had in high school, only shrunk in the wash.