Oh, those merry pranksters of yore. - Photo contributed by N. J. Tosches
The Holliston, Mass., resident was vacationing in mid-July of 1954, and when he returned home, he discovered that his 1933 Chevrolet Eagle phaeton had been moved from his family’s driveway and manuevered over a ramp to a spot atop their family’s chicken coop.
The pranksters loaded Kampersal’s Chevy onto a car-hauling truck and then cobbled a ramp from the truck to the edge of the coop. The bravest of the bunch then drove the car to a central position on the 12-foot-tall coop’s roof, hoping it would be strong enough to sustain the car’s weight.
With the slant of the roof, it was also important that the 21-year-old car’s brakes were in top shape to keep the vehicle from rolling over the edge. As can be seen in the picture, small boards acting as chocks were placed in front of each wheel to prevent the car from accidentally rolling forward until Kampersal returned from his vacation. Also note that poles stick out from both the hood louver and interior, each with a lamp hanging from it. Likely, this dangerous prank was carried out in the nighttime.
Once word of the prank got out, the local newspaper serving Holliston sent over a reporter who arrived on the scene to document the car on the coop. The news account stated Kampersal was “perturbed” by the prank played on him and his daily driver, a rare model (only 543 built in ’33), which had been modified with more modern wheels and its front doors replaced with “safety” ropes. Employed with his father in the milk business, at the time of the story, Kampersal admitted that he still hadn’t figured out how he was going to get his car back to earth.
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