Culpeper County High School - Colonnade Yearbook (Culpeper, VA)

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w SO IT’S NOT EXACTLY THE HIGH LIFE But Robert Henry can do almost as well in the school parking lot, catching eyes with his sporty Crager-wheeled Nova. A BACKING IN Chuck Jackson takes advantage of one of the few places where backing in is allowed. With his girlfriend Missy Jenkins he backs his truck in beside Billy Wise’s. 4 STOP AND GO The stoplights in town were the most familiar and aggravating of the bright lights of Culpeper to the people who cruised Main Street at night. But who cared, as long as they kept your car from getting hit? 21

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Modified big blocks, Stock six cylinders, and Four round wheels to roll. C ars and transportation played an important part in the lives of students. In a county school situation with no public transportation except for the school buses, figuring out who was driving when and if they could give you a ride became very important. “It’s really hard to get places with¬ out your license,” Melanie Doyal said. “You have to depend on your parents or friends for rides everywhere.” Hav¬ ing a license — and a car to go with it — became the students’ best and most obvious symbol of independence. However, students quickly found out that independence had its price, usually in the form of gas and insur¬ ance bills, with repairs and general maintenance thrown in. Cars were a lot of fun, but a lot of money, too. But for many young drivers, the main reason for having a car was not for easy acess to school or school ac¬ tivities, but for the social freedom it granted them on weekends. To many students, cruising town quickly be¬ came a weekend way of life. Cruisers are a special class that come from almost all groups. Cruising was a way to see who was around town and be seen by everyone else, and seeing the cruisers parked at the restaurants and shopping centers on the north end of town, or just driving through, was not an unusual sight. They spent their time talking to friends and looking for parties — cruisers are notoriously hard partiers. So, who cares if owning a car and paying for it was a very large head¬ ache at times, it more than makes up for it with pride and independence it gave back. - Russel Walker WATCH THE GAS Willy Grammer might be driving his father’s truck, but it is his money putting gas in it, so he’s keeping a close eye on the price. 4 READY TO ROLL Billy Wise checks out his truck to make sure he hasn’t forgot¬ ten anything. Four wheel drive trucks were very popular, right down to the mud bogs on Sundays at the south end of the county. 10

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Not having enough money is a problem . . Trying to earn enough is tough. We should all have money to burn 1986 Costs M oney makes the world go around.” Even in the ’60’s when Joel Gray and Liza Minneli sang “Money” in “Cabaret,” money was important. Just as important as it is today— but now it takes even more to buy the same things. Back then a gallon of gas was 35c, a Hardee’s hamburger 25c, and it only cost $1.50 to see “Caba¬ ret” at a movie theatre. Money for clothes, lunches, gas, cars, records, make-up, hair supplies, gifts, tapes, movies, dates . . . the list never ended. Being broke was the pits. It meant that gas couldn’t be put in the car, which effectively grounded some¬ one unless they could bum a ride. Some lived off an allowance, but many students found ways of making money to provide themselves for extra spending. Many looked for formal jobs at the local businesses, but others went to work for themselves, doing yard work, babysitting, or even doing exotic things like exercising horses —all to make those all important dollars. gallon of gas .79 guess jeans 50.00 Levis 21.00 Reeboks 50.00 Adidas 50.00 Big Mac 1.50 Large Pizza 14.00 Yearbook 18.00 Album 7.99 Cassette Tape 8.99 Compact Disc 13.99 Movie in Town 3.75 Movie in Charlottesville 5.00 Coke or Pepsi .50 Candy Bar .45 School Lunch .90 Concert Tickets 17.00 Prom Tickets 10.00 t FILLING UP Keith Dunn finds out how ex¬ pensive it can be to keep a car running. 22 Money Problems