Life in the Ville by Jimmy Del Ponte

The songs Happy Together, Something Stupid, and Groovin’ were playing on our transistor radios as we listened to WRKO AM.

It was the summer of 1967 and four Somerville kids ages 11-14 were excited to have been on furlough from the local adolescent detention center. Actually, we were on summer vacation from St. Clements Parochial School.

The Three Vigneau brothers, Stevie, Charlie and Andre, and me decided to build a buggy. We started with a long thick plank for the body, and went searching for wheels. The shopping carts from Stop ‘N Shop had two small wheels in the front and two larger ones in the back. We needed four large rear wheels. That meant we needed to commandeer two shopping carts and get them over to my yard on Hall Ave.

The four of us visited the alley next to the Davis Square Stop ‘N Shop and “borrowed” two shopping carts. We brought the carts to my backyard and removed the four wheel that we needed.

We had big plans for our buggy. We gathered all the parts and started assembling it. Mr. Vigneau was a carpenter so his garage had all the hammers, saws, nails and screws we needed. I believe we purchased the axles at Tags in Porter Square. We sawed the legs off one of our old kitchen chairs for the back seat.

The wheels, and seat were attached, and our buggy was starting to take shape. We hooked up a rope to the front wheels for steering. That’s when our project really took off.

The friendly man across the street, Lou Simoneau, came into our yard to check out the banging. He immediately shared some suggestions on how to spruce up our buggy. Next thing you know, we had a working steering mechanism complete with a car steering wheel! He also gave us a piece of leopard print fabric and showed us how to make a functioning canopy for the back seat. The final touch was part of an old lamp we used as a hood ornament. Cool!

Mr. Simoneau took the time to help us kids make our buggy something special. He was a very soft spoken and patient man who had time for four rambunctious kids on a hot summer day.

We were so proud of our buggy. We nicknamed it “The Munster Mobile.”

Yes, that summer of 1967 was special, as the small plastic transistor radio blared the hits while we built our buggy. We were Happy Together working on our buggy. We did Something Stupid by stealing shopping carts for wheels, but in our slick, two-seater, leopard canopied buggy with a steering wheel and a brass hood ornament, we were sure Groovin’!

Too bad we forgot to put brakes on our buggy. It met its demise at the bottom of “Oscar’s Hill.” Rest in peace “The Munster Mobile.”