Unless you were one of the Mercury Seven, this man, a chimera of flesh, engine, roller skates and Wayfarers, was doing cooler things than you in 1961. Perhaps it’s worth quoting the photo’s original caption in full:

11th May 1961: Salesman Mike Dreschler has his motorised roller skates refuelled at a petrol station near Hartford, Connecticut. He has a single horsepower air-cooled engine strapped to his back and holds a clutch, accelerator and engine cut-off switch in his hand.


The station, visible on the portrait-oriented original, is a Sunoco.

Photo by F. Roy Kemp/BIPs/Getty Images (via Formicarius)