How Jimbo's Chevy Camaro found new life in L.A.
In praise of the SoCal trio: Mikey, Santino and Chainsaw
I remember the day Jimbo brought home his new, blue Camaro.
My older brother was making good money then as a producer at CKCK in Regina, and although he did not get a good deal at Dan Kane Chevrolet in Windsor, he was pretty happy with the new wheels.
My Dad, who was an ace mechanic at Dan Kane, would never forgive the salesmen — people he never trusted.
Snakes in suits, as one person called them.
It wasn’t the best Camaro GM ever made, but it had a big V-8 and a then state-of-the-art three speed transmission.
I once drove it from Banff to Calgary during a terrible snowstorm, when the Trans-Canada was solid ice from end to end — the white-knuckle drive took three terrible hours.
I had to quickly adapt to the three-speed, but we made it back OK. I was just glad I didn’t end up in the ditch that day. Many did.
The Camaro would make its way to the City of Angels — Los Angeles.
Where Jim started out his 25-year career as a screenwriter.
The Camaro would also see much of the US southwest, as Jim explored California, Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico on his many trips.
Trips to see our parents in Swan River, Man., as well.
And then came the day, when Jim decided the Camaro had reached the end of its journey.
Although it never had a major issue, it had seen better days, and it was time to say farewell.
Thankfully, Jim had takers in L.A., namely a gangsta named Mikey.
Mikey was friends with Jim’s buddy, Santino, who was a Vietnam veteran.
And Santino’s buddy, Chainsaw.
Mikey, Santino & Chainsaw. They were quite a trio.
One time Jim went to a food court with Mikey and Santino, when Mikey spotted a rival gang member walk in, with his posse.
I can’t recall if Mikey was a Cripp or a Blood, but instantaneously, Jim said, Mikey switched to a war footing. He changed.
He wasn’t the same person, Jim said. He was eagle-eyed, and ready for trouble.
Thankfully, it was defused, thanks to Santino, but things were tense. Everybody got out of there alive.
A word to the wise, if you hang with a Cripp or a Blood, be prepared for trouble.
It isn’t like in Calgary, where kids dress up as gangstas with hip-hop hats, their pants on the ground and neck tattoos. That is just a fashion statement.
In LA, those clothes make a very different statement, a very real and violent statement about who you are and what you are.
Santino was an interesting guy, too. An Italian with movie-star looks, he grew up in Chicago and volunteered for two tours in Vietnam.
He once confided in me, with how he survived.
During training at Fort Polk, which was known as the "Home of the Combat Infantryman" due to the realistic basic and combat training, a sergeant took a liking to him, and tried to help him out.
He took him aside before he Santino got shipped out, and told him: “When you are sent out on patrol, to engage the enemy … make sure, you engage the enemy.”
At first, Santino didn’t know what he was talking about.
Then he realized what he was being told.
“Engage the enemy,” he said again, “otherwise, they will send you where the enemy is.”
The lesson was clear.
If you go out on patrol, whether you encounter the enemy or not, fire away anyway, and just say you did engage the enemy.
Santino said that advice kept him and others alive.
But in saying that, Santino saw many good men go down, along with his gung-ho platoon leaders.
Because of this, he would often get promoted to lead the unit, until a new commander could be found.
Strangely enough, though, he did not hate Vietnam. He would talk about how beautiful the country was, and the people as well.
His photo slides did not show death and destruction, but beautiful fields of rice, and smiling faces. The good side of Vietnam.
He would eventually become a tunnel rat, because of his slim frame. A terrifying job he said he didn’t mind.
He also told me about highly unauthorized all-night runs into Laos with a menacing .50 calibre on their APC, to buy their drugs.
Nobody ever dared stop them.
Once, they accidentally strayed into a Michelin rubber plantation, chasing some Viet Cong down, and got supreme shit for it from above. This was a big no-no, and resulted in a diplomatic tiff.
He also recalled General Norman Schwarzkopf (then a major) was respected by the troops, but only cared about one thing — the VC body count. It was all the Pentagon wanted to hear. How many killed on any particular day.
Back in LA, Santino had an apartment in the same walk-up that Jim lived.
Jim told me he suffered greatly from the effects of Monsanto’s infamous Agent Orange — a highly toxic defoliant. He continued to receive treatment at the VA hospital.
From 1961 to 1971, the US dropped more than 75 million litres of Agent Orange and other herbicides over Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos in what was then called Operation Ranch Hand, in a scorched-earth policy to strip the terrain of foliage and food supplies in an effort to defeat the Viet Cong.
And that takes us to Chainsaw, the last of the trio.
An LA urchin, the less said about him, the better.
His claim to fame is getting arrested at LAX for driving into a no-go zone after 9/11 by accident.
But getting back to the Camaro, Mikey jumped at the chance to buy it when Jimbo spread the word.
Yes, it’s probably a gangsta car now, but it will likely be restored, possibly even into one of those cool low-riders you see in rapper music videos.
The last Jimbo heard, was that Mikey’s novia (girlfriend), BooBoo, was driving it around too much, and Mikey was not happy about that.
Hopefully, the Camaro wasn’t involved in any nefarious activities, but at least it is still rolling, and finding new life on the streets of LA.
And Santino? He married a VA nurse who was looking after him, and they moved to Oregon, where they still live today.