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Robert Cole

Andrew Flor

Congrats Tim!! Trust me, I've seen this car in person and it is something else, detail for detail. Perfection! 

Timmy Wong

Wow!  Thanks, Michelle!  Also, thanks, Andrew and Robert.  As a Gearhead, it's a dream to have your car done as a 1:18 scale diecast model.  After displaying my car in 2018 I was floored to get a call asking if I wanted the model done to commemorate the show.  It took a split second to make that decision, maybe not that long and the rest as they say is history.  Autoworld only made 1000 models so it was limited production. The unique feature of the car is the body style is a post coupe car which has a frame around the side windows and out of the 515 Hurst Olds built in 1968, only 64 were this body style.  My wife and I have owned it since 2000 and it has been a fun car to drive and show.  

It's a great time reading the fun posts on this forum so keep up the good work!  Go Lane Go!!

Jeffery Mazur

Congratulations Tim , that's awesome. Being the owner of a 68 Chevelle a 71 AMX and now a 2003 zo6 , I understand the efforts to make a car clean and sweet . yours is exceptionally special . Looking forward to seeing your beauty one day . Congratulations again enjoy .

John Kownacki

Jeffery Mazur

Hey John , how are you doing ?  how I love those memories. Those were great cars weren't they .  we all remember nights at Foster Ave., Beach racing . Relieved no one ever got hurt . a part of growing up I guess. my dad was a big bike guy got a picture of him with his whole crew back in the mid 50s . Love to show it to you sometime.

William Page

John and I raced many times. I had a 70 Chevelle SS very quick! Now I have a very quick 56 Pro street Chevy. Since High School Ive always had a fast something. 

William Page

Jeffery Mazur

Hey Willie , sweet !

Edward Mc Carthy

The unmistakeable rear end of a '56!

Four semesters of auto shop at Lane turned me into a gearhead.  I owe a debt of gratitude to that clever businessman Mr. Fletter.   Great teacher and if you had him, you also knew twice a month he would drive a new Caddy out to California for somone and fly back .  He made some pretty sweet coin on the side.doing that. 

Have had my share of antiques, classics and muscle cars.  Too many to list.  My wife reminds me frequently ....you've owned well over a hundred cars in 45 +years.   Anyone who is a gearhead knows....Once a gear head....always a gearhead.  I am a member of the Chicago Gearheads, a thirty year old car club started by a couple of CPD car guys.  Awesome club and brotherhood ( and sisterhood ) of car lovers.  With Illinois having the expanded use antique plates, we get to enjoy our babies almost all year.  

Drive on!

Timmy Wong

Jim, nice '56.  Sharp looking car.  Ed, I didn't know you could take 4 semesters of auto shop when we were at Lane.  I had one semester with Mr. McGillen.  Really enjoyed it and I guess it got me going down the road to Gearhead-land.  My son grew up with the cars and now he is a bona fide Gearhead too.  Nice to have a common bond with him and we have great conversations all the time involving 4 wheel fun!!  Here is another of my clan for your enjoyment!!

Maja Wiesinger (Ramirez)

I didn't know anyone could take 4 semesters of auto shop -- MOI was not permitted to even take ONE, allegedly because I had already gotten one of the ones I'd requested (let's see.. woodshop and electric frosh year, must've been foundry sophomore year). The only "REASON" I can think of is because i was a GIRL. GGGRRRRR!!!

Edward Mc Carthy

Maja.......sadly, I bet girls were not given the same considerations availabe to the boys.  This was reinforced to me at the 50th anniversary celebration for girls admission event in 2022.   I had no idea how difficult it was ( for the girls at Lane ) from a 'logistics' standpoint.....bathrooms, locker rooms etc.  And no doubt sexism regarding traditional male classes.  We were a generation of change yet we at that time were also conformists.  Follow the rules, march to the beat, do as you're told, don't question too many things.  I respect and admire you Maja for going into law enforcement.  For so long, that was a male dominated field.  Maybe in some small way, Lane's culture nurtured you in that direction.  And I also thank you, you and anyoine who served in that way, and the military as well.  Your efforts and sacrifices are deeply appreciated.

Timmy.....beautiful rides.  Thanks for sharing.   

Shops and taking extra shops or beyond those required credits from shops to graduate was not difficult however it was NOT publicized.  Probably many valid reasons from school leadership.  You had to ask/request it.  Then have the teachers agree and approve or accept you in.  And there had to be room in the class.  Your counselor also had to sign off on it.  It was very doable IF you knew the steps necessary to make it happen.  Mr. Leo ( that assistant principal who scooted around on a three wheeled scooter who had Parkinsons ) , he lived in my neighborhood and in fact, I mowed his lawn.  He said if I needed help, just ask.  It never came to that as counselor Zoern readily approved the requests.  And I was not the only student doing it.  I also took 4 semesters of foundry which was such a passion of mine.  Thanks to Mr. Dix , Mr. Dawson and Mr. Keating.  All of this required classes from 1st period to 10th period but it was worth it.  I had to stick around quite late anyway for gymnastics.

I said years ago in an earlier post.....that everything I needed to know about life and being a good human being I learned at Lane.  Of course my folks raised me well too.  All the shops gave me the curiosity foundation I needed to do plumbing, electrical work, building, woodworking, auto work, welding, working with metals casting and turning pieces and much more.  They pushed me to attend U of I Champaign and pursue dual degrees in engineering and agriculture.  I owe a debt of gratitude to a bunch of teachers and Lane.

We say 'Remember the honor of Lane'.  I add to that, " be greatful and humble and appreciate all the incredible opportunities we were given and exposed to through Lane.  And that today, 50 years later, we as a group can share those wonderfuls times and memories.  Life is good..

Sorry I got wordy here.  Ken Ortiz, I am not stepping on your 'proliferation of prose' title !!!

John Bliss

I had no idea you could take multiple semesters of shop classes. I took the four they signed me up for -- wood shop, electric, machine, and foundry. I had a pretty heavy schedule of honors classes, so I don't know if I would have been able to fit more classes into my schedule anyway. I don't think I ever saw a counselor at Lane. Maybe when I signed up for, and later dropped, calculus. I certainly didn't get any assistance when it was time to go to college. I was recruited by some pretty heavy hitters -- Dartmouth, Columbia, Perdue -- but we had no money, so I never even considered those schools. I imagine things are different now. But for someone who graduated at the top of his class, I receive no academic assignstance. 

Andrew Flor

Gregory Calvimontes

Ken Ortiz

Hello all,

Wow! I sure have a lot to catch up on. Thank you Ed for covering for me. I hope you all had a good Christmas and New Years and I hope that 2024 will be a good year for us all. 

Old cars, I believe my first car was my Dad's hand me down 1972 or 73 Ford Galaxy 500 that I got after I graduated from Lane. It was a big 4-door and with a V8 400 engine. Sucked for parallel parking and gas miliage with me being a new driver and with limited fundage, so I did have several ooops moments with it.

One goal (out of several) I will be working on this month will be digital clean-up. My poor sister's email locked up because it hit its capacity limit. She realized that she never deleted old e-mails and never did a clean up. Actually, when I was at Motorola, we had a similar project as some of our customer's cellular networks needed upgrading and clean up (as they were reaching capacity limits) and we came up with procedures on how to do that for them while minimizing their down time. So I will be doing that with my digital devices. Deleting old e-mails, old photos, old files, apps, etc. 

So recently, I was going through some old photos on my phone/tablet and there are some that I could definitely write about because of the wacky stories behind them. I think it would be a cool exercize for either a creative writing or a comedy class to show the picture and then to write a story about it or to make a funny caption for it.

Sometimes I just happened to be at the right place at the right time to take some of those photos, but sometimes, I never got to take a photo, but I was there to experience the wackiness of the moment. "You can't make this s**t (or "stuff" to keep it PG) up" or "You had to be there" are a couple of quotes to describe those moments. 

Here is an example of one of those "Just walking about and suddenly a wacky moment comes up" and NO, I did not take a photo: 

It was a Saturday morning (about 10am-ish) in the Summer 2023 and I was taking a walk along 6th avenue in downtown Kenosha (where I live walking distance from). So as I was walking, I noticed someone up ahead cleaning up some broken glass from the sidewalk. I go up to him and then notice that the broken glass is from the beauty salon front window. So, I asked the guy how did the glass break, but before I asked him, I pointed to the bar a couple of doors down. He told me "Yep! The bar owner showed me the video of what happenned" as the bar has cameras outside. And before you ask, YES!, this bar has a reputation of being a "Stupid people" bar and it's a bar I would NOT go to, especially late at night. So, here is the story: Someone got pissed off the night before (Friday night = extra stupid night) because he lost in pool inside the bar and went outside with the pool stick and smashed the window of the beauty salon. 

So, here is where my wacky logic comes in. I noticed that the beauty salon is TWO doors from the bar and not NEXT to the bar. What is the shop between those two places? The lawyers office of course as this bozo realized he may NEED those lawyers so he shouldn't break that window. Also, part 2 of my wacky logic is that he must have lost maybe 10 whole dollars on that pool game and I am sure he was justified in breaking that window. Of course now the cost of hiring lawyers, maybe arrest/bond (he is on video and I am sure people in the bar know him), court costs, payment for replacing window, etc, maybe should have factored in that decision not to bust the window.

So, I hope in 2024, you all take the time to stay aware and observant when you are out and about because there is wackiness all around us.

John Simmers

Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Freebird" was released on their debut album -- in 1973, and the single was released - in 1974. So, any way we look at it , the song at-least now teeters -- at 50-years-old.

But, sometimes we need to do things just because we can, and -- thus, it is actually for no particular-cause nor real-reason that I here share the remastered version of the band's "Freebird" performance -- at Oakland Coliseum Stadium (July 2, 1977).

Partake based on your own-will and best-discretion to do so. All the Good! Enjoy your day!

[To view here -- just tap play button; to view on bigger screen space, tap "YouTube" at lower right of frame or "Watch on YouTube" at lowerleft; Approx. Run Time: 11:48]

Andrew Skipor

I wanted auto and machine -shop, got neither. Instead welding, foundry (spent a lot of time mixing sand for the class (useless waste of time), and metal finishing.  I had drafting after foundry and was always late since it took a while to get cleaned up from the oily sand. Got fed up and did not press the cope over the drag and let the molten aluminum leak out all over the floor, no more sand mixing for me, Keating and his assistant got the message.  2 girls in my division had auto shop, and asked if they wanted to trade classes, they said hell no, I certainly wouldn’t have either. One of the girls, took over her dad’s auto repair shop.

Edward Mc Carthy

Andrew, when you said 'oily' I knew that was Keating's shop.  He was an unusual guy for sure.  Almost more about teaching character ( through hard knocks ) than promoting foundry education..  You could not beat the quality of castings though that came out of the black oil based sand.  Fred Dix's sand was water based and cleaner to work with but if the moisture content was off........pin holes for sure.  Machine shop was a good class but you probably got more life skills out of welding class.  I have welding equipment that comes in handy often.

Thnking about Lane today and having NO SHOPS......it is a different time now however I feel ( my opinion only ) that todays kids are missing out on valuable skills.  As most graduates, even in our day,  go onto to college, those things gleaned from shops at Lane provided some benefit to the students,  For me, they provided direction for college and I left U of I Champaign with two degrees; Engineering and Agriculture which have served me well.  And as I said before, shops gave me the skills to do any task around the house or uder the hood.  Not everyone is suited for hands on skills, this is true.  My neighbor was the chief of thorasic surgery at Lutheran General  ( now retired) and he credits Lane shops with the hand eye skills he learned.

Today, the US is in a major crisis with a huge shortage of skilled trade workers. Not saying there is a cause and effect relationship there that as many schools cut out shops,,,,,the trades suffered but without the opportunity to sample  these things.......  CNC operators with no college ( and NO student loans!!! ) are making 40 to 60 bucks an hour after a dozen years of experience running multimillin dollar machig centers.  And all the over-time they want at a sweet premium!   Especially in aerospace and the high tech industries.  Plumbers, electricians, welders.....   Anyway, hopefully there will be a shift in thinking and these careers will flourish once again.  Community colleges are now offering shop opportunities !!!!  Can I get an AMEN !!!!

Robert Cole

Michelle Milkovic (Weiner)

For those of you not on social media, here is something from today's LTAA social posts. I encourage you to check out the video.

Kids at Lane ARE using their hands, and their brains, and this is just Robotics. The Creation and Innovation Lab has even more shop-oriented opportunities for students including 2 brand new CNC machines that any manufacturer would gladly put on their plant floor.

What's more, in the mid-seventies, the standardized reading scores at Lane were in the 74th percentile.  Today... the 99th.  And in May, the school will administer 6600 AP exams. (I think we could count the AP classes offered in 1976 on our fingers)

Today's students at Lane are just as industrious, super smart, and relevant... I would hire a Lane student in a nano second. In fact I did last summer... as an intern.

Team 4645's Preseason (youtube.com)

Team 4645's Preseason (youtube.com)

Robert Cole

Very good poont Michelle!

We tend to remember "shop" as it was when we were students. And, robots were mostly in science fiction.

Robotics and CNC are very important additions to today's industrial arts. 
That being admitted, I do wish there were a place fot the traditional shop classes. Robotics is important and many students will be able to use those skolls in their careers. But, I would guess a larger number could benefit from traditional wood, electric and auto skills. And, the other industrial arts for those who look for careers in those directions.

Edward Mc Carthy

Mich and Robert......good points as well.  I did not mean to say or imply  the school was void of ALL types of shos hiwever clearly the definition of a shop has evolved.  What was more mainstream 50 years ago is NOT what is considered high tech new milenium shops.  Robotics and any STEM activity is brilliant for challenging young minds.  Fully support them.  And while automobiles have evolved as well from the pre-cambian era technology of the 50, 60 and 70s.......internal combustion engines remain basic in opeation.  Light switches and fixtures....the same.   My point is.... knowing a bit of basics about things puts you ahead of getting ripped off or the satidfaction or affecting a simple repair job in the car or around the homestead.  Eye hand coordination.  I can not imagine NOT having attended Lane.  

Cole......the black wire is hot but could also be red, if it is in a switched circuit!  LOL.

Robert Cole