High Life: A Weekly Forum For High School Students : The Big Green Driving Machine : Auto: Sunny Hills High School senior Jeff Foye gets to school in something of a family heirloom.

It stands high above the masses, its hulking frame towering over all it surveys. As one stares at it (from a safe distance), three descriptive phrases come to mind: It’s big. It’s bad. It’s green.

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Some call it a monstrosity, others call it an anomaly. But Sunny Hills High School senior Jeff Foye calls it transportation.

Since early this school year, Foye’s pea-green 1949 Chevy Carry-All has graced his high school’s parking lot. At 7 1/2-feet tall and 16-feet long, it’s hard to miss--moving or standing still.

“I like the car because it fits my personality,” Foye said. Not to say that he has a big, pea-green personality.

“I like to be different,” he clarified.

Different hardly describes Foye’s car, which has been rebuilt and reconfigured countless times in its 42-year history.

From its World War II military four-wheel drive to its 1969 Dodge Charger engine, Foye’s auto is anything but standard issue.

“The car’s been in my family for about 20 years now. My mom bought it right after my dad left the military.

“She liked it for the same reasons everybody does--it was big, ugly and green.”

Foye has been repairing “the Green Monster”--as his family calls it--on and off since his sophomore year.

“I’ve never had any auto shop classes, but I just learned as I went along,” he said. “Most of the time, my dad would sit next to the car and tell me what to do, and I would do it.”

The long and tedious repair process was at times frustrating for him.

“Often, I’d get one part fixed only to find out that three other ones weren’t working.”

Among other things, Foye replaced the car’s head gasket, timing case cover and brake master cylinder; cleaned and refurbished the carburetor, honed the brake cylinders, re-welded parts of the steering system and fabricated replacement brake mounts.

The repairs are by no means done.

“I want to replace the shocks,” Foye said. “The old ones are very, very cheap. Right now, speed bumps are actually rather violent.”

Although he has no immediate plans to change the Carry-All’s muted, and in some places rusted, green exterior, Foye hopes to eventually paint the car “dark, dark green with black fenders.”

In the five months he’s had the car running, Foye only recalls two major breakdowns.

“I was getting ready to make a left turn, and the brakes went out on me. Fortunately, there were no cars in my way.

“After I got that fixed, the transmission suddenly went out, also in the middle of the street.”

Fear of a breakdown isn’t the only thing that keeps Foye from driving too far from his home in Fullerton.

“The car gets awful mileage--between eight and 12 miles per gallon,” he estimated. “It has two gas tanks, though, so I only have to fill it up once a week.”

Right now, the farthest Foye has to drive is Yorba Linda, where he works in a bicycle shop.

“At the moment, I’m afraid to go further,” he said. “And I haven’t been on the freeway quite yet.”

Despite all its problems, Foye still enjoys his unique vehicle of transportation.

“I like seeing people’s reactions when I’m driving the car,” he said.

“If I’m making a turn, some people will actually back up to make sure I have enough room. That’s the best!

“Others just aren’t aware of what’s going on around them--they actually cut me off! As if they couldn’t see me. . . .

“Every time I go out driving, I get comments like, ‘Whoa! Cool car!’ from strangers on the street.”

Foye also values the car for more sentimental reasons.

“One of my earliest memories is of me sitting on the fender of the car, watching my dad tinker with it.

“The car’s been my life, my hopes and my dreams,” Foye said, laughing.

With a wicked smile, he continued: “If you don’t like it, I’ll run you over.”