For some, the bus was a lesson in humiliation, an embarrassing transition between adolescence and adulthood made less agonizing only by the possibility of potential four-wheeled liberty in the near future. Many could only hope that day would come. Then there were kids like Alan Brentzel, who used his time as preparation, plotting his escape one car magazine at a time.

During bus rides to school, Brentzel acknowledged relenting to the temptations of peer pressure. A group of boys would spend that time, noses buried in car magazines, creating imaginary lists of cars and cars parts they would one day purchase.