I recently found two old photos of the placing of the vehicle, which are included here. There are a lot of misconceptions and false information that have been passed down over the years concerning this event so it is time to set the record straight.  So here is "The rest of the story".

In May of 1981 some seniors came to me and ask if we could put a car on the roof for their senior prank. This sounded like fun so we went about preparing to lift a Toyota, belonging to Mr. Louis Reed (the principal of PHHS) onto the overhead deck beside the auditorium.  This was accomplished by unloading it from the bed of my Military 6x6 with the loading ramps from my race car transporter truck, as shown in the photos. As the angle was steep, we used a come-along to pull the car up.  After a couple of days we took it down the same way. You see me (Mr. Welty) reaching in the drivers door while Mr. Robert Jones supervises. Can you identify anyone else in the pictures?

Additional facts to dispel continuing rumors:

1. We did not "steal" the car from Mr. Reed. He enjoyed this event as much as anyone and had in fact given us the keys to the car to drive it. (He did play the part of an upset car owner quite well.)

2. Neither this car, or any other, was on the actual roof top of the school.(no matter what you have heard)

3. The Fairborn Police and the Fire Department made no arrests or complaints, but were both present when we removed the car.  (The Fire Dept. provided a large safety air bag incase the cable broke)

4. A structural engineer from the base gave me an opinion of the load the roof would support (before the event) and it was many times the weight of the car.  There was no danger of roof collapse.

5. The car was never dropped from the roof or hurt in any way. Mr. Reed continued to drive it for another year or two.