A Clutch Paint Job
Posted on December 17, 2024 by Marcomm
鈥淲E鈥橰E NO 1 IN THE NATION,鈥� proclaims the 秘密研究所鈥檚 bus in a 1972 photo. The baseball team proudly poses alongside, celebrating the Jaguars鈥� first appearance at No. 1 in national polls.
The creator of that paint job was also the bus driver. And mechanic. Joe 鈥淐lutch鈥� Smith, an Army veteran of Vietnam, began a 38-year career at South in 1970 as a jack-of-all-trades in maintenance. When the University founded its transportation fleet by acquiring a former Greyhound bus (a General Motors PD-4104), Smith got handed the keys.
鈥淚 had good times with the bus,鈥� says Smith, now retired in Semmes, just northwest of Mobile. Sure, it had logged more than a decade and maybe a million-plus miles on the road. The gears would grind, which is why the players nicknamed him 鈥淐lutch.鈥�
And it was a little shabby. But Smith could fix that. Three weeks of prepping and painting (with some equipment borrowed from a body shop) left the bus gleaming in red, white and blue: Blue for the stripe and big lettering on the sides, white for the roof, wheels and small 鈥溍孛苎芯克�� lettering, and red for the roof stripe and the big, boastful 鈥�1.鈥�
鈥淚t looked really good,鈥� Smith says. He鈥檚 right. It really did.