Avid R & T reader here, since the 60's even.
Somehow the mentioned author never made any impression on me .
Though I vaguely recall the story you mention.
Henry N. Manny though..............the most outrageous and original, and
brilliant,
automtotive writer ever.  Wrote for R & T from Europe in the 60's.
And example of his originality..........
he called himself, in lower case, 'yhs.'
that stood for 'your humble servant.'
oh...................Henry could write a sentence 60 words long, and it was
*flawless.* - not really something that should have been 4 sepaerate
sentences,
and with perfect structure and thought flow.
And I'll also say that the writing in R & T,  and in another magazine I
thought had absolutely excellent writing,
National Geographic - the quality of the writing has declined since 'back
then.'

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jim Arnott" <jrasite@EONI.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Saturday, October 18, 2008 9:09 AM
Subject: Re: your Boat, Ginger Clown the Dream ...

> So here's a challenge...
>
> Just who IS Dick O'Kane?  I've a couple of his short stories on-line
> at <http://wetwesties1.tripod.com/> but finding any biographical data
> seems to be a fruitless search. FWIW, I also have a full collection
> of R&T from the era in which he was contributing.  I suspect that
> there are more than a few other stories buried in them.  I'll have to
> go through them before I pass them to Mr. Arbaugh.
>
> So... Joel or others, what can we find out about Dick O'Kane the
> automotive author (not the submarine driver.)
>
> Jim
>
>
> On Oct 17, 2008, at 7:20 PM, joel walker wrote:
>
>>>
>> O'kane & The People's Truck
>>  by Dick O'Kane    <Road & Track, July 1971>