I still hadn’t found a job in the spring of 1971, and one morning I remember leaving the townhouse to walk over to the parking lot where my car was parked.

The car, of course, was my parents’ car, a 1962 Oldsmobile convertible. At least I think it was a 1962 model. I know it was an Oldsmobile because my parents always bought their cars used from the George Steinmetz dealership in Myerstown in those days, and they always bought Oldsmobiles. 

Oldsmobiles were solidly built, which is one of the reasons my parents liked them.

It was my habit whenever I was going to my car to look around to see if there was anyone else in the parking lot, anyone walking, or anyone getting into their car, or any car pulling out or coming in. I’m not sure where I picked up that habit; perhaps it was from Mr. Spangler, my high school driving instructor.

On this occasion there was no one to be seen anywhere on that lot

So I got into the car and began to back out of the parking space— 

—and immediately slammed on the brake because there was a car barreling directly towards me from the opposite side of the lot!

And it crashed into the back of my car.

I got out to inspect the damage, as did the occupants of the other car.

My 1962 Oldsmobile convertible had sustained no damage whatsoever. Maybe a tiny scratch, but nothing worth mentioning.

The other car, however—well, its bumper was damaged and the trunk door was smashed in and was completely unusable; it would have to be replaced.

Apparently the occupants of that car had been sitting inside it when I had walked out to my car, which is why I hadn’t noticed them, and in one of those weird coincidences of timing, the driver started up the car and backed out at the exact same moment that I did.

Except he gunned the gas pedal and backed straight out, whereas I was slowly backing out and starting to turn so the center of the back of his car rammed into the corner of mine.

The upshot was that he didn’t want to report the incident to his insurance company, and he felt that we were both equally to blame, so he demanded a hundred bucks from me to pay for the damage to his car.

I felt that a) he was almost entirely to blame and b) I simply didn’t have a hundred bucks to spare at the moment, and c) even if I did, I wasn’t sure I’d want to hand it over to him because d) I really didn’t feel I was especially culpable. If he had been turning as he was backing out like I was, the parking lot was wide enough to accommodate both of us, and there would have been no collision.

A bunch of his friends had come running out on hearing the crash, so he had people on his side. I had no one on my side. But then again, he didn’t want to report it, and my car wasn’t damaged at all.

I saw him again a few days later and once more he demanded a hundred bucks from me.

And that was it.

I didn’t see or hear from him after that.

The incident did have one long term beneficial result.

From that day onward I have always backed into parking spaces or garages so that I don’t have to back out. 

And I’ve taken note of traffic collisions that are caused by a vehicle backing out. In fact, one time the daughter of a boss of mine was very seriously injured by a driver who backed into oncoming traffic.

So I did learn a useful lesson.