No, it’s not something they were required to wear as punishment by the Juvenile Corrections Dept., or to warn off the public. These boys were members of the Molestors Club, in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1945. Life magazine did a photo essay of teens there; here’s the link to the rest of the shots. “Clubs” then were a sort of a cleaner-cut version of gangs, and have long disappeared with so much of kids’ free time, especially from affluent neighborhoods like these kids came from. And that name probably wouldn’t go over too well today…can you imagine the uproar?
Is that a siren on the roof?
Likely a wolf-whistle. (Which BTW my grandfather was once pulled over by a cop for blowing his car’s wolf whistle at his future wife.)
AAahhhhhhhhh WooooooGAAAA???
Dial M for “motor”…
MUNTED
Zorro’s younger brother, Marvin, was less successful in the family business.
Mannie, Moe and ??
Max
“Monroe County”. It seems the county was so poor during the depression they couldn’t afford the traditional stripes for their inmates, so they simply painted an “M” on the seat of all inmate pants.
I dunno if thats true, but it sounds like the best explanation……
MadMan Muntz. His first sale.
Men’s asses?
Melts in your mouth, not in your hand.
There’s something painted on the hood on the ground. The image might be reversed, can anyone make it out?
I think it’s just weathering; either that or Hebrew!
Perhaps “Bob” Dobb’s first vehicle before he invented his own religion and used his mother’s first initial for his first logo?
Had to say it, MarcKyle64!
Could very well be, but where are the pipes? None of the future members of the church of the subgenius have one!
The question is, what’s so wrong with the motor that requires three mechanics to work on the car simultaneously? Or maybe one of them just dropped his watch or wrench inside the engine bay and they’re all just looking for it?
When none of the three road service technicians could figure out the starting crank, Howard understood why his MMM membership was so much less expensive than AAA.
Also admiring those other curbside classics in the photos: Beautiful elm trees.
Like hoopty Tin Lizzy’s, those were also all gone by the 1950s.
Hmm. How about “Mickey’s Mobile Mechanicians”?
The dreaded Scarlet M…
I was in the ballpark.
Not only did the boys have car trouble on their way back to Ohio State, they would also soon discover that the Michigan fans would not accept the loss of the football game quite so gracefully as one might hope.
Is it me? Or is the front transverse spring on that Model T completely flattened out against the axle? Maybe the boys stuffed a Cadillac V8 in there.
That T has clearly been molested, but I doubt there’s a Caddy V8 in there, given that it was 1945.
Yeah, no one wanted those big, heavy Cad flathead V8’s.