As a senior I was graduating and had already taken a test to join the Air Force. Vietnam was in full swing. I scored a 98% in mechanics, so the Air Force was going to train me as a jet mechanic. Imagine that!
The 1966 Plymouth Troubleshooting Contest First-Place team received a $1,500 scholarship each, and we (2nf place) received $1,000 each. That was enough to pay for me to attend College for the first two years. The morale of the story is that this Chrysler-Plymouth Troubleshooting Contest changed young students lives for the better! I am very appreciative.
Their reasoning was that it had been 2 1/2 hours of cars getting disqualified and they were afraid they would not get a winner. We were right behind them, next in line.
Mr. Blevins went on to become a Junior College automotive technology instructor, after which he became a crew chief for a NASCAR team. I remember he had his own dirt track race car that he often worked on after school. He also became a pilot flying vintage jets.
I next saw him 50 years after the contest when he flew a vintage military jet into North Island Naval Air Station in San Diego. He said I would recognize him because he would be carrying something he wanted to give me. He was waiting for me in the parking lot carrying his Richard Petty blue hand toolbox with 1966 National Plymouth Troubleshooting Contest in big white letters on the sides that he got from Plymouth at the time and had saved since then.
Richard Petty had actually fired the starting gun at the 1966 nationals after stating, "Gentlemen, start your engines!"
The next person in the promotional picture is me (Tony Loya), followed by my contest partner (Chuck Fabbri), and then followed by a Chrysler-Plymouth executive.
The next person in the promotional picture is me (Tony Loya), followed by my contest partner (Chuck Fabbri), and then followed by a Chrysler-Plymouth executive.
Chuck took his contest scholarship money and attended the same Junior College as I and majored in Automotive Technology. He worked for Sears as a Master Mechanic for many years and then owned his own automotive repair shop where he developed and held at least one patent that I know of for a Chevrolet rear differential specialty repair tool. The son of a Bank of America branch manager, he had natural mechanical skills and a love for Chevy El Caminos.
During the contest I got stuck on a fuel problem I couldn't solve. Chuck calmly asked if he could take a stab at it if I worked on the electrical problems. He fixed the fuel problem in no time. I knew right then and there he was a better mechanic than I and that automotive tech would probably not be in my future. Chuck is no longer with us. --
As for me, during my college registration process the counselor asked what my major was going to be. I replied that I didn't know because I wasn't supposed to be there. She looked puzzled and then gave me a class catalog to look at while she attended to other students. When she returned, she advised she was going to assign me all state required classes to which I asked if I could at least pick one elective. I had seen a class on Introduction to law enforcement that caught my eye. She commented, "Oh, you're going to be a cop." I said no, and that it just sounded interesting. She replied, "Nobody takes that class unless they are going to be a cop."
She was right. I achieved an AA degree in Police Science and went on to a four college to get a BA degree in Law Enforcement Administration. I subsequently retired after a 27-year career with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), followed by an 18-year second career with the Office of National Drug Control Policy and their High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Program. All this because of the Plymouth Troubleshooting Contest. --
To be in the contest, we had to be sponsored by a Chrysler-Plymouth dealer. Across from our high school was such a dealership, Edgren Motors, owned by Mr. Lloyd Edgren. Mr. Edgren worked his way up from starting a small repair shop to owning his own dealership. As a mechanic himself, he never forgot his roots and wanted to give back. Through his dealership he supplied our school's Driver's Education cars and sponsored our contest teams over the years.
After my education and after securing my career with the DEA, I went back to thank Mr. Edgren for making a difference in my life. I never forgot that he also invited my parents and I, as well as Chuck and his family, to his dealership to take photos after we returned from Detroit. He was also there when Chuck and I received our scholarship checks.
Sadly, when I returned, Mr. Edgren had unexpectedly passed at a young age. The dealership was also no longer there as it had later burned down in a fire.
I don't know whose idea it was at Chrysler to create the Plymouth Troubleshooting Contest, but I know it affected many lives for the better, from dealerships, to teachers, to students. It made the world a better place by making opportunities. I hope it survives in some form at Chrysler. If it doesn't, Chrysler should consider reviving it, as it has a rich history. Mr. Blevins, Chuck and I, and Mr. Edgren, are but one story.
https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2021/04/the-team-that-would-have-won-1966.html kicked off a communication with Tony, he replied with the above
