Snowplow vs. Car

Gus Philpott
Woodstock Advocate
December 29, 2010

Did you see the video of the Brooklyn, N.Y. snowplow that bashed two parked cars while it was being pulled out of deep snow by a tow truck? Both cars belonged to the same family! Pure carelessness by the tow truck driver (and the snowplow operator), if you look at the home-grown video by a neighbor.

As I watched the video clip, I was reminded of a prank phone call by Wally Phillips (1925-2008) back in the late 1960s. He called a man whose car had been hit by a snowplow in a commuter parking lot, in Milwaukee as I recall. The man's car had been damaged in the parking lot and repaired, and on the morning of the call it had snowed heavily again.

Wally called the man and asked if he owned the car that been hit, damaged and repaired.

The man said he was the guy.

Wally said something like, "You know how it snowed heavily this morning? Our snowplow operator saw your car and knew he had hit it before, so he was being really careful. Well, I have some bad news for you. He hit it again."

The man figured out really fast that Wally was pranking him. It was a great call.

I always enjoyed commuting on the "L" into the Chicago Loop in the morning. As the "L" passed rows and rows of stopped cars on the Eisenhower, you could see drivers laughing at the same time, so I guessed they were all listening to Wally Phillips!

Wally died in 2008, but he will be long remembered!