Roach was my 1968 VW mill car. Roach was painted dark blue. At that time [early 1980's] you did not drive a 'good car' to a paper mill. Now do not get upset because by the mid 1980's the paper industry had upgraded all systems and pollution was not an issue.
In 1984 we were in the middle of a major expansion which included a new paper machine, new boilers [state of the art pollution control] and, at that time, the world's largest mechanical pulping or TMP [thermo mechanical pulping] mill. I was the engineer for the new TMP Mill. Using today's dollars, the expansion would cost about $US1.2 Billion. We had 4,000 construction workers on site.
The TMP Mill used liquid SO2 [sulfur dioxide] to formulate sodium hydrosulfite bleaching liquor for bleaching TMP. The new system had two 13,500 gallon S02 tanks. Liquid S02 is as hazardous as chlorine gas. If one of the two new tanks failed, well, honestly say goodbye to about half of the county. In the previous year I had rebuilt the existing S02 system after researching the issues. I gave these specs to the project consulting engineers and directed these guys to duplicate the design. No such luck!
We filled one new S02 tank in the morning and at 2PM two days later this tank started to fail due to incorrectly specified gaskets. To truly experience an S02 leak you must go into your yard and pick up and put dog droppings into you mouth. The good news if you smell rotten eggs your are still alive! I called the chemical supplier and had two chemical tucks expressed to the mill. It was around 11PM when the tank was empty and danger had passed. Time to go home.
I started Roach and started to drive home. Fog had started to settle and when I began to turn off HWY 5, I missed judged my turn. I drove about 75 feet and started to turn left. At that instant I saw head lights in my right side door window. I then headed for the ditch on the right side of the road.
An off duty construction worker [from the project contractor] driving a step van rear ended Roach at about 70 MPH. Roach and I were launched about 50 feet before landing in the ditch. Poor Roaches engine ended up in the back seat! Yes he was dead!! I was alive but sore for days.
Roaches replacement? A 1974 Super Beatle painted orange named Tigger! I had Tigger's engine rebuilt and had him painted CLEMSON Orange. Now, no one could not say they did not see me ever again! All Yankees loved Tigger as he was a Southern Car with no salt damage. I sold Tigger to a young girl in Ohio in 2007 just before moving back south. She was only 12, but her Daddy said she just loved VW Beatles and would take good care of him.
FYI - My wife names everything we own. My Mercedes is named Scarlet, and my truck is named Buba. Oh yes, it was time to replace Roach!
Wild Bill - Alive and Well!
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