PENDLETON — One of the more notorious classes to graduate from Pendleton High School meets this weekend for its 40th reunion.

The Class of 1981 is holding events Friday and Saturday, Aug. 13 and 14, at the Roy Raley Room at the Pendleton Round-Up Grounds. The event is “very casual,” according to information on the Facebook page for the reunion.

Members of the Class of ’81 pulled off one of the all-time great pranks at the high school, impressive enough the East Oregonian covered it.

“Pep Week pranksters struck Pendleton High School in February 1981 with a puzzling parking problem,” the paper reported in an “Out of the Vault” segment.

“Students arrived on Monday morning, Feb. 23, 1981, to find a yellow MG Sprite plunked in the middle of the high school library. The car was jacked up and the tires removed and shoved under the car. The pranksters took the lug nuts so the wheels couldn’t be reinstalled. A potted plant perched serenely in the rear seat, and three books were carefully placed alongside: “Fingerprinting,” “Great Adventures in Crime” and “Crime in America.”

The “culprits” obtained a key to the building, according to the paper, removed a center post from the library doors and rearranged the furniture to place the car in the center of the room.

The crew behind the car caper was so smooth, there was not a scratch on the floor nor any oil leaks.

Parking attendant Dave White heard about the incident and gleefully slapped a ticket on the windshield, citing the owner for improper parking, not having a parking sticker and for blocking the aisle.

And Principal Joe Cannon said, “We’ll get it out of here, but I don’t know when.” While the battery and engine were still in the car, it wouldn’t start.