{"id":88473,"date":"2022-10-16T15:28:55","date_gmt":"2022-10-16T13:28:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dandavats.tumblr.com\/post\/626697925881479168"},"modified":"2022-10-16T15:28:06","modified_gmt":"2022-10-16T13:28:06","slug":"a-very-nice-story-by-anuttama-das-about-his-service-as-the","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/?p=88473","title":{"rendered":"THE AUTOMOBILE WALLA OF THE HENRY STREET TEMPLE IN BROOKLYN"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A VERY NICE STORY BY ANUTTAMA DAS ABOUT HIS SERVICE AS THE AUTOMOBILE WALLA OF THE HENRY STREET TEMPLE IN BROOKLYN, NEW YORK<\/p>\n

~As most of you know, I was in charge of the cars during my time at Henry St: 1972 till we moved to W. 55 St in Manhattan in 1975. In fact, the cars were called \u201cAutomobiles\u201d.<\/p>\n

We learned early on that new cars and New York City did not go well together. Dents appeared almost daily and our sleep-deprived drivers did not help either.<\/p>\n

Romapada das was in charge of flooding New York and surrounding areas with Prabhupada\u2019s books. To accomplish this he needed a fleet of cars and an army of devotees. My job was to provided the cars and vans.<\/p>\n

Since buying new vehicles proved to be disastrous, I resorted to buying used ones from the Penny Saver paper, police impound auctions and government surplus sales. The local government was having a big sale with over 150 municipal cars soon. These were offered for sale with a sealed bid. This meant that you mailed in a bid, and if it was the highest, you won.<\/p>\n

We needed a few more cars, so I thought \u201cLet me bid low on many cars and maybe I will get a few.\u201d I bid on 40 cars offering between $50 to $70. After a few days, the auction contacted me and informed me that I had won 21 cars. Holy cow! What were we going to do with 21 cars?<\/p>\n

I gathered up a group of men, including Hari Kesha, and drove to a dock around 22 St on the West Side of Manhattan and we returned with the cars back to Tiffany Place. I picked out nine of the best ones to keep for the temple, and decided to sell the rest on behalf of the temple. I placed ads in the Penny Saver and listed them for $300 to $500. After I sold them all, I ended up covering the cost of the cars that I was keeping and had a profit for the temple too.<\/p>\n

After that I gained the nickname \u201c21 Car Anuttama.\u201d<\/p>\n

PS. In 1974 I bought a used luxury Chrysler Imperial from a government surplus sale. This was a beautiful car. I bought it for Srila Prabhupada to use when he came that summer. We fixed the front fenders with VIP flags like a diplomat\u2019s car. Prabupada use that car, and after his visit I sold it for a profit for the temple.<\/p>\n

During my years managing the cars at Henry St, there was almost no cost to the temple. I would buy low and sell high, a business concept I would use later in my life running a successful auto business that I named Rama Auto Sales.<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014-<\/p>\n

On a side note: after we moved to Manhattan, the new manager [who was very intelligent] decided that I was not needed anymore. They would buy all new vans and cars.<\/p>\n

Marching into the local dealership, they plunked down \u201cBIG Money\u201d and bought about eight \u201cnew\u201d vehicles. Boy, did they look nice parked in front of our new 11 story building. I remember the halls on the second floor were lined with the back seats from the vans. Passenger vans cost more then cargo vans but money was no object, I figured. Yes, you guessed it. Within six months all those vehicles were banged up.<\/p>\n

\u2013 Remember that when you know it all, there is no need to ask advice from experienced people.<\/p>\n

~ by Anuttama-Tom Morrison.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

We learned early on that new cars and New York City did not go well together. Dents appeared almost daily and our sleep-deprived drivers did not help either<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10650,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[118],"tags":[152],"class_list":["post-88473","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-recent-media","tag-nectar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88473","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10650"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=88473"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88473\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":88476,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88473\/revisions\/88476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=88473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=88473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=88473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}