The Ballad of Norman Bent

My little limerick about Norman Bent and his shop tricycle (referred to as a traffic car back in the day) was originally published on DriveTribe six months ago, but the site, still in its infancy, had issues with formatting the verses, so here it is, looking the way it’s supposed to:

Before you go to bed
Have you heard the tale?
Of a fellow who’s a legend
Not one mission did he fail.

The man of whom I speak
The man who we all know
Would go to anyone anywhere
With his parts and tools in tow

This man was Norman Bent
He was kind and dedicated
He treated all with respect
As if they were related

Got a broken moto?
Got a broken bicycle too?
Got a broken model airplane?
Norman Bent can bring the glue.

Norman Bent, he travels
On his trusty traffic car
Delivering parts and service
To people near and far

It’s got a suicide shifter
Three wheels of spoke and steel
And a cargo box weighed down with tools
To give it that stable feel

He’s the automotive Santa
On his trike of tools and parts
You could say he has a doctorate
In the automechanical arts

Norman he does travel
On his trusty Indian moto
But this was in the days
Before all could snap a photo

Now there’s all this sharing
These insta’s, tweets, and snaps
But of Norm there are no photos
On social media traps

But then one day he vanished
Friends searched far and wide
They were in need of services
That only Norm could provide

He left behind his trike
It’s still with us right here
But Norm was never heard from
The trike we hold so dear

Did he depart too early?
From something he could not heal?
Folks think it’s something better
They call her Norm’s “fourth wheel”

And so Norman Bent the legend
The mechanic we’re so fond of
He started a new journey
Just he and his newfound love

We all want Norman back
If we had our druthers
But let’s stop being selfish
Because Norm, he helped out others

So while we’ll never know
Where the legend went
We all can practice kindness
Like the helpful Norman Bent

Norman’s traffic car was on loan from the AMA Hall of Fame Museum to the Petersen Automotive Museum. I’m unsure as to whether or not it’s still there, but it doesn’t matter because the Petersen is an astonishing car museum, and you’ll see more posts from me there as I’m a member.