He’s a Motoring Classic : For Crenshaw Centenarian, Gold License Is a Milestone on the Road of Life

Like many Angelenos, Cornelious Alphonso Murdock considers driving a metaphor for life.

Murdock’s road, however, has been longer than most. At 100 years old, he’s still driving.

On his birthday Tuesday, friends and officials of the state Department of Motor Vehicles gathered at Murdock’s Crenshaw district home to wish the retired postal worker well as he rounded the century mark.

Last week, Murdock--who wears glasses only for reading and has just recently began considering using a hearing aid--took the written test to renew his right to navigate on the state’s byways. He scored 95%.

Murdock drives infrequently now, sticking mainly to short jaunts through his neighborhood in a 10-year-old sedan.

At the birthday party, the DMV officials promised Murdock a “gold” driver’s license--which differs from a regular license only in that it is issued to a centenarian. Murdock’s is the second to be presented in California.

Murdock said he started driving in Los Angeles when he was 23. He first drove a Ford truck on his job as a parcel post delivery man. Then there was an eight-cylinder Mitchell, a Hudson, a Buick and some Chryslers.

He also remembers, with particular fondness, a “GM Regal underslung,” circa 1915.

“This was my pleasure car,” Murdock said. “The springs were underneath; it made the car ride very low. It was pretty popular at the time.”

From a motorist’s vantage point, Murdock measured the changes in the city, its roads and its people.

“We used to go on Sunday drives for the fun of it,” he said. “We used to enjoy life. Now Los Angeles is a madhouse. People have very little respect for one another. Cutting in and out of traffic, everybody seems to be in a hurry. . . .

“It’s not much of a pleasure going out for a drive any more. You use driving now as a means of getting from one place to another. And when you get back home, you just have to be thankful,” he said.

But Murdock added that, through it all, he has done a good job of avoiding life’s SigAlerts.

“I’ve been driving since 1913 and I haven’t had an accident yet,” he said. “I don’t really have a secret for it. Maybe it’s because I have a sense of anticipation. I sort of know what the other fellow is going do, and I can avoid mixing it up with him.”

He has made some compensations for his age. Just last year, for instance, he gave up driving on weekends to Las Vegas.

“Now, I take the bus,” Murdock said.