When your career was your life, it is hard to stop. Retire? For what reason?

TEST DRIVE by Dave CarleyMonday PlaybillCBC RADIO ONESix EpisodesLinda Grearson: ProducerWinner: Bronze Medal, New York International RadioFestival (Best Play)FROM December 1 2001Re-visiting the Sixties re-visiting the Sixties with thelife and loves of car dealer Earl Hughes, largely setinside a Nash-Metropolitan!The life and times of a car man are chronicled in TestDrive, which premiered in 2004 at Ontario’s famousBlyth Festival. Earl Hughes loves his wife, children andcars – and not always in that order. He also considershis life to be resoundingly ordinary, except that everyten years or so he sets out on a test drive that rockshis world. Earl’s first trip begins in 1954 – HurricaneHazel is brewing but he thinks he’s still got time to sella Nash Metropolitan to a would-be starlet. After thatfiasco, Earl drives through the Cold War, discoverspeace, love and brownies at Woodstock, andeventually comes to a screeching stop in 2004 – whenhe must fight his final battle, to keep his driver’slicence.Dedicated to the memory the legendary Canadianautomotive pioneer Hector Dupuis.Earl Hughes loves his wife and kids, but cars havealways been his passion. His journey begins in 1954 -a hurricane is brewing, but he still thinks he can sell aNash Metropolitan to a would-be starlet. From there,he drives through the Cold War, detours aroundWoodstock, and eventually comes to a screeching stopin 2014, where an inevitable turn of events threatensto put an end to his joyrides for good.06 Test Drive January 5, 20022001. Earl is over 80 now and his driving hasdeteriorated. He smashes his old AMC Matador into therear of a businesswoman's Lexus SUV; she berates himas his car is towed away. Earl loses his licence and isforced to take a road test to get it back, and he takehis young instructor an one of the more excitingdriving tests in recent memory.Test DriveBy Dave CarleyLinda Grearson: ProducerWinner: Bronze Medal, New York International Radio Festival(Best Play)Monday PlaybillCBC Radio One3:30 pm, December 1, 2003 to January 5, 2004Episode Synopsis of Test DriveTest Drive is the story of Earl Hughes, an American Motors cardealer on the Golden Mile in East York, Ontario. The sixepisodes of the series span the years 1954-2001 and followEarl's career in the car business, as well as chronicling thestory of his marriage to Dorothy (Dodo) and the exploits of histwo children, Eleanor (Speedy) and Franklin.The much-loved Canadian actor GordonPinsent plays Earl. Over twenty otheractors round out the exceptional cast.Each week's episode tells the continuingstory of Earl's life over the years, andthe revolution that has occurred in theauto retailing business since the 1950s.Each episode also revolves around a"test drive" - often involving a new carand happening against the backdrop of alarger event.American Motors was the last NorthAmerican independent carmanufacturer. It built a lot of weird andwonderful cars - the Javelin, Pacer, and Metropolitan, amongthem - as well as many famous, sturdy compacts, like theRambler American. It also owned Jeep. American Motors wasfinally absorbed by Chrysler in 1987.Gordon Pinsent, LindaGrearson (director) andDave Carley in the radiodrama studio in theToronto BroadcastCentre. Photo: JohnMcCarthy.Test Drive is a series of six radio dramas that were firstbroadcast on CBC Radio One and Two in November andDecember, 2001.The script for the stage version of Test Drive is available in thePlays (full-length) section of this site.Sound Engineer WayneRichards adjusts the "car",with Richard Lee and GordonPinsent.Test DriveDrama-comedy2m/1f – 2 actsThe life and times of a car man are chronicled in this new play,which premiered in 2004 at Ontario’s famous Blyth Festival. Arevised version is being produced at the Lighthouse FestivalTheatre in Port Dover, Showboat Festival Theatre in PortColborne, and Prince Edward County Festival in summer 2014.To read the full play, click here.Earl Hughes loves his wife, children and cars – and notalways in that order. He also considers his life to beresoundingly ordinary, except that every ten years or so hesets out on a test drive that rocks his world. Earl’s trip beginsin 1954 – a hurricane is brewing but he still thinks he can sella Nash Metropolitan to a would-be starlet. From there hedrives through the Cold War, detours around Woodstock andeventually comes to a screeching stop in 2004 – when he mustreally go to war to keep his driver’s licence.When unable to sleep, my dad used to melt saccharin in warmskimmed milk. If the CBC's Test Drive were a liquid, that'swhat it would taste like. It's a mildly amusing sitcom in whicha namby-pamby Toronto car dealer looks back upon the last 50years of his life and times. His wife's overbearing, his kidstypical, his son-in-law an ex-Mennonite who drives as if he'sblind. The acting is uniformly fine, the production lean andbright, the characters stock, and the writing unthreatening,considering the volatility of the last half-century. Yetcompared to TV comedy of the same nostalgic ilk, Test Drive isa work of art.