Life in the Ville by Jimmy Del Ponte

“Wow! Nobody believes me when I tell them about this truck!”

A hot summer’s night, many years ago. People sitting on their front porches. Kids with popsicles and the sound of fans in widows. A truck pulls up and all the kids run over to it, but it’s not the ice cream man. After stopping and getting money from their parents, the kids line up for a ride on The Whip! Along with the frenzied kids, what I remember most was the sound of the motor and the smell of exhaust. But boy was it a blast!

In the photo, one of the trucks says Uncle Sam. Now here comes the Somerville connection. When they saw the photo on Facebook this was the reaction:

“My wife’s Uncle! Slamming Sam Pino, Boston University Football Hall of Fame! Running Back, Drafted and played for the Green Bay Packers with Bart Star.”

More memories started pouring in reacting to the photo. “I remember this truck coming to Albion St. and it cost 10 cents. Trying to explain this to others is almost impossible for anyone to comprehend, if you never heard of it before.” Indeed! A truck that went from neighborhood to neighborhood that had a fun filled amusement park ride? It’s no wonder that the memories of The Whip were so numerous.

“Omg! I remember this coming to Magnus Ave. We always rode more than once. I told my kids about this and they thought I was crazy, now I can show them it was real.”

“I still remember the excitement of seeing it come down the street (Montrose). And, weren’t we always outside, playing on the street?”

“We used to yell faster, faster and it seemed like it did go faster … the driver could throttle up the engine to make it go faster!”

My friend Phil recalls, “I remember my sister Linda giving me a dime to ride it. She became my hero then.”

“I remember going to the Star Market parking lot back in 1971. That was part of the small carnival they set up every year. Kids would be wearing neck braces the next day. No one sued.”

Can you imagine if The Whip truck came around today? There’s probably new safety rules and restrictions in place.

I’ll go out on a limb here and say that we kids took lot of chances back in the day. We played on the railroad tracks, and right in the middle of the street. We also gathered in city parks and played sports! remember leaving my house around 8:30 a.m. and not getting home until after dark. We thrilled when the traveling carnivals set up for a few days. We made a bee line for the ice cream truck but when The Whip came around, it was special.

It’s no wonder that a friend made this comment: “One of my all-time favorite memories!”