The muscle cars of our era could make it up the Indiana Pike in high gear; not very fast, but in high gear. Every guy wanted a "DA" haircut, a stand-out car, and a good looking girl. Even two out of three was OK. There didn't have to be a steady girl if the car was "magic" enough to attract their attention at the Cadet. And every guy with a car circled the Cadet, made loops through Kittanning with unending trips up and down Market Street, and drove down through Ford City to see what "they" were doing.

Al "Butsy" Schaeffer describes his "pride and joy":  "It was a 1955 Ford Fairlane, standard shift, 3-speed on the column  A friend, who was a super mechanic, installed a 490 hp Thunderbird Interceptor engine in it, with a 4-barrell Holly carburetor.  It had dual exhausts with a fairly throaty exhaust system. It was robin egg blue in color with spinner hubcaps and portawall white walls.  A true 50's car. My grandmother bought it for me from a used car lot owned by Jimmy Rudolph on N. Grant Avenue.  I believe the cost was around $600 and the car was actually only 4 years old when she bought it.  The car burned up while in Ben Rupp's garage for repair in the Fall of 1964 while I was a studen-teacher at Ford City HS.  Dick and Sue Morgan lived above the garage and lost everything in that horrible fire.  A great car in a great period of my life."

Al "Butsy" Schaeffer's '55 Ford Fairlane