Beside old cars, I am a sucker for dogs, and old TV shows, too. I was flipping through the TV channels at 5:00 am today when I spotted Lassie and had to watch. In this episode, Lassie and her a raccoon friend were walking along a deserted highway when a '32 roadster comes roaring down the road and kills the raccoon. The young hothead driver was, of course, "TV Tommy" Ivo. Later in the show, Lassie's family drives to "Capital City" in their '58 Dodge pickup, with Lassie in the bed. They happen on a bunch of hot rods drag racing on a back road. Lassie jumps out of the bed and checks out the cars, looking for the killer. When Ivo pulls in in after a race, Lassie hops in his moving car, wrestles him to the ground, and scratches his face! Afterwards, with the encouragement of his girlfriend and another hotrodder, Tommy realizes the error of his ways, apologises to the family and promises to never speed again on public roads. Classic! I wish I had caught this on video. There were some really nice rods at the drag race: a few Model A's and '32 Fords, and a nice '40 Ford sedan. Ivo's car looked familiar, but I can't place it. The episode looked to have been from about 1962 or so.
Well, my wife is from Reading & I wouldn't doubt that she saw that same episode, back in '62. Then again, she wouldn't have known who Tommy Ivo was. It figures that Berks County cable is airing Lassie re-runs. Was that episode with the original Timmy? I think I'm taking leave of my senses..must have inhaled too much bondo dust today.
Funny thing is I don't watch much TV, myself. We just had Dish Network installed with the basic package and I was curious to see what was on. Lassie was in the TVLAND channel. At that hour, it's mostly news or infomercials. Yes, it was Timmie, but the original kid on the show was older and named Jeff. I have an inkblotter mind for 40 year old trivia, but I can't remember my wife's cell phone number. Pass the bondo dust, please.