Issue 1 | September 17, 2013 9
HOOFBEAT FEATURES
Fixer-Upper
Students share their passion for remodelling classic cars
emily hefeli
staff writer
Hidden
among
the
cramped rows of sedans and
soccer mom vans, a white
hardtop 1965 Mustang draws a
presence of its own. Given the
age of the car, one might think
its owner is a teacher or school
employee with a soft spot for
the past, but surprisingly, it is
the project of MN senior Tim
Lesher.
Lesher is one of a small
cluster of MN students who
have taken the issue of driving
into their own hands literally.
For some, fixing up their vehicles came out of necessity and
for others, out of a simple passion for the nostalgic aesthetic ther Lesher nor his father have
of past eras.
turned to a mechanic for proLesher’s search for a car fessional assistance. Instead,
came to an end when his father the two rely on a combination
decided to let him drive the car, of Google and occasionally the
which he had bought in the 90s muscles of a neighbor or two
out of a love for the look of the when it comes to pushing the
60s and 70s era Mustangs.
car to a different location.
Lesher’s Mustang is a clasFor both Lesher and his
sic but also required more TLC father, the experience has been
than the run of the mill Honda beneficial to their relationship
to get it road ready.
and Lesher’s car.
In order to get started on
“I didn’t know anything
the restorations, Lesher turned about cars until my dad and I
to his father, who has experi- started working on it, and now
ence fixing cars, to both learn every once and a while when I
and revive the car back to its start talking to some random SHIFTING GEARS: Senior Tim Lesher shows off his 1965
former glory.
person, they’ll tell me some- Mustang. Lesher fixed up his car with his dad and now
“I had always envisioned thing I didn’t know about it. So drives it to school. Photos by Regan Tokos.
fixing it up as a hobby, and as it’s pretty cool,” Lesher said.
my boys get older, it makes
Another MN student who across a listing from a man in ago, Beck has been enjoying
sense to include them in on the has found his method of trans- Denver selling the ‘67 Camaro his first season driving the Camaro. He even just returned
project, if they’re interested. portation in the body of a clas- Lander had set his sights on.
Beck describes the list of from working in Wyoming in
He put in the work, why not sic is senior Lander Beck.
restorations
the order to pay for its continuous
let him drive it,”
car initially needed restoration.
Lesher’s father
It’s like a real man’s car because there’s as lengthy; the enOf course, driving a vinCurtis
Lesher
no AC, no radio, no cup holders. So gine wasn’t in the tage car has unexpected sursaid.
you’re pretty much sitting there, best of shape and prises that surpass the occaWhile the
sweating in silence with nowhere to the interior was sional mechanical fluke.
majority of imput your Big Gulp.
nowhere near safe
“A couple of my friends
provements
or
comfortable
for
when
I first got around texted
have
already
tim lesher
passengers.
me
like
‘We gotta go for a ride
been made such
senior
“When
we now, let’s go. Take me for a ride
as engine work
and the addition of seat belts,
For Beck, the task of re- bought it, it had the original in your car’,” Beck said.
For both boys, the opthere is still plenty of work to storing his 1967 Camaro came engine, so we didn’t have to
be done.
from more than just a necessity take it out, we’ve just had to im- portunity to go through the
prove the smaller, less critical process of restoring, and then
“There’s still a few dings to get around town.
driving their cars has reaped
and dents in it, but it’s like a real
“I’ve always kind of liked parts,” Beck said.
For help making
the in rewards that go farther
man’s car because there’s no classic cars, so I was interested.
AC, no radio, no cup holders. I did some research before I needed improvements, Beck than leaving skid marks on the
So you’re pretty much sitting turned sixteen, and I decided turned to his father for a hand. blacktop.
“He was really interested
Their experiences and
there, sweating in silence with that the Camaro was my favornowhere to put your Big Gulp,” ite kind of car and that I liked in cars when he was in high newfound knowledge have not
school, and knows more than I only shaped their cars, but their
Lesher said.
the ’67 the best,” Beck said.
relationships and appreciation
Regardless of the jobs that
Beck and his father do,” Beck said.
Since they began a year for classics.
have needed to get done, nei- searched online and came
“
7 Things you didn’t know about Mrs. Eblen
1
2
When I was a kid, I was in 4-H. I tried to
4 I was a stilt walker at Kansas State.
raise a lamb one year but got chicken pox.
I fell off my stilts in front of 50,000
A pile of glowing foam unexpectedly blew 5 people when a cord got wrapped
around my stilts.
up while I was doing a chemistry demo
and burned my arm.
6 I got to drive a DeLorean once for like a
block.
3
I accidentally set off the fire alarms during
a code yellow my first year here.
7
I’m a scuba diver and got to spear lionfish
this summer.
My Side
of the
Story
Jenna Pfingsten
Features Editor
I before E
except after C
We all learned the “I before E” rule back
when we first started spelling bigger words. You
could sometimes hear someone muttering the
phrase during a Friday spelling test. It is one of
those things we learn in elementary school that
sticks with us as we grow up.
Yet as we get older and become more
immersed in our technology, we forget
these simple spelling rules and rely solely on
autocorrect to fix our silly mistakes.
In fact, according to a survey done by the
charity Mencap, one third of surveyors could not
spell the word “definitely” and two thirds could
not spell “separate”.
With smartphones now equipped with
the capabilities to fix a word before you’re even
finished typing it, we don’t need to know how to
spell anymore.
Do we?
Some argue “no”, that there’s no use for it
since we have computers to do everything for us
nowadays.
However, spelling and writing are still
fundamental skills that should be taught and
reinforced. There will be times when you will
need to use “old fashioned” pen and paper to
write a letter or a paper. In these cases, improper
spelling of simple words such as “definitely” or
“receive” can make you sound unintelligent.
You hear about funny autocorrect mistakes
all the time. There are websites devoted to
screenshots of incorrect word corrections and
Ellen Degeneres even has a segment on her show
called “Clumsy Thumbsy”.
While these mistakes can be funny, they
aren’t widely appreciated outside a small circle
of friends.
Autocorrect is handy, but it’s also important
to check over a text before sending it to make
sure you didn’t say wombats instead of words.
Despite the new technology we have access to,
it’s still important to know how to spell everyday
words. That doesn’t mean knowing how to spell
the championship word of the 2013 Scripps
National Spelling Bee (knaidel), but it does
mean knowing how to spell common words like
“definitely” and “receive”.
Simple spelling is easy when you remember
phrases such as “I before E, except after C.” Once
you have that down, it’s the weird exceptions you
have to look out for.