Aaron Robinson

Aaron Robinson was this kid a bunch of us knew from awhile back as some of you who have made it this far may have gathered. I personally remember Aaron as far back as fourth grade, 1973.

We, meaning Aaron, Robin Paschall, Tim Hawkins, and myself all attended Fogarty Elementary School in Guthrie, OK. that year.

To understand what a gearhead is, one must consider the following. This kid at age 11 was already into cars big time. I'm not talking about a flash in the pan fad type obsession here. He had somehow

already acquired before he was a teenager, a 1942 Chevy Club Coupe (a very rare model due to WW2).

This car never ran while he owned it, however he managed to get some flames painted on it long before any of the unimportant stuff like a MOTOR for example was installed! In a similar vein, some of his old friends might recall some of the student, teacher exchanges that took place between Aaron and numerous educators. One of the things that teachers always seemed to be doing, at least ours did anyway, was have us take a large sheet of manila paper and write a story on the back detailing some experience we had, or something others might find interesting. And on the front, a picture relating to your story, a "visual aid." By the time fifth grade rolled around Aarons "visual aid" was always, and I mean ALWAYS, a drawing of a '55 Chevy! ala Ed Roth , some pretty good kid drawings. One particular assignment I recall was an anti-drug message. Same deal, picture/story. On this occasion I am sure the instructor thought, "how can this kid possibly do another assignment and utilize cars in it?"... Like this, draw a syringe on your manilla paper with the caption :

"SPEED KILLS, DRIVE A FORD!"

By the time 1974 rolled around we had all seen "American Graffiti" and the visitors who are paying attention will know that it was at this same time we started our own club loosely based on the "Pharaohs", a gang from the movie. We were now to be referred to as the "DRAGONS!"

Almost all of this was accomplished at the behest of our resident Banner Elementary gearhead, Aaron.

Aaron also during this time started his infamous car collecting "mania" that consisted of the utilization of bicycles and shortly thereafter we all became mobile thanks to the fact our eldest member received that sacred piece of paper all young men dream about, the drivers licence!

Scouring all of central Oklahoma can be an adventure. Scouring it in search of cool Chevrolet cars is a GREAT adventure. That's what we did, any time we could get out, the usual teenager things also of course but finding and just looking at the hidden treasures that were everywhere, our number one priority! Aarons second car would have been the "Dragons" club car, a 55 Chevy four door that was bought cooperatively by the gang and for all practical purposes was an exercise in futility. His third car was a 55 Chevy two door sedan that went on to be one of the most infamous 55's in Logan County history, the orange and white car later owned by Tim Huskey and even later on, Mitchell Madison. Here again this car never ran but was indeed the start of better things to come. Car number four would have been the much discussed '56 Chevy four door sedan that has in the ensuing years became an SK symbol of pride for the photos we have of it pulling a street wheelie on N. Pine St... It was just a lowly 235 c.i. six cylinder, It was also a car we had so much fun in that there is not enough room on this website to tell about it so I'll leave it at that...

Car number five would have been another 55 Chevy. In this case one that never ran but is worthy of discussion, a two door hardtop Bel-Aire purchased for $35 found in the woods just outside of Meridian, Ok. If you perhaps are interested in hearing a story about three kids pulling a "Motorless"

"Brakeless" 55 from Meridian to Guthrie late one summer evening contact Tim Hawkins or myself as we both can give you a play by play of this cat and mouse dance with death on SH 105. This car ended up in the hands of Richard Beauchamp who got it running with a SBC, and painted it white over blue.

Cars number six and seven have to be grouped together. They would be a '55 Chevy two door sedan 150. And a '63 Chevy Impala SS. The '55 was bought by Aaron from High School classmate David Creecy in '78 along with the Impala which was found in Meridian. It had a healthy 327 c.i. SBC

that was promptly utilized to replace the wheezing "sixbanger" in the 55. This was Aarons version of a Two Lane Blacktop car long before such things were in vogue. This is the car that I now have in my shop. Unfortunately like almost all of Aarons cars we have no pictures of it when he owned it...so this will have to do:

This is what it looked like after I rescued it from Aaron's parents house on North seventh street.

There were a few more cars that should be addressed during this short period of time Aaron had the blue 55 on the street. One was a '60 El Camino 348 car and according to R.P. Aaron for a short time owned an Olds F-85.

The next car of any consequence (No.10) would have been a '70 Chevelle 402 c.i. BBC that Aaron bought from Tim Huskey and was no doubt the fastest car he ever owned. There are several good street racing stories floating around about this good old car, just ask any of the GEN 1 members anytime you see one of them!

Car number eleven was a 68 Camaro small block car that Aaron bought around February or March of

'79 and was the last car I ever rode in with our old friend, I went back to Colorado after a visit in the early part of the summer of '79 and one day, specifically June 21 1979, Robin called me up and told me about this...

It is easy to place somebody on an undeserving pedestal, especially when your a sixteen year old kid.

A lot is made about only the good die young...the cliches almost make some people sick in fact... Myself and a bunch of other people who live in this town can vouch for this one though. A better friend could not be found.

A kid who died way too young, was always ready to help any gearhead no matter what anybody else in this town might have thought about them. We will never forget...I PROMISE.

As stated above, not many photos exist of our friend. Here are the only photos available that can be used to help tell the story.

This is an aerial photo of Aaron's parents house on north seventh street taken in the late eighties. All of the aforementioned cars and then some, are visible in this picture depicting the flood level on the west side this year, 1986 I believe.