An old friend of mine told me that I should write about my first car. She probably remembers more stories about when I had that thing than I do, it was so long ago. But, my first car was a 1976 Chevy Nova. There is nothing wrong with that, but the fact that it was a total rust bucket and was pumpkin orange, well, that gave it all the reason to remember it. I bought it for $500 cash from the county health and welfare office. The seats were as lovely as the outside, black and white houndstooth patterned. The crazy thing burned as much oil as gas, and leaked oil too until I found out it had a bad head gasket. With the help of my brother, I fixed that problem AND patched the gaping hole under the foot pedal with a piece of sheet metal. For the first winter, there was slush and mud getting thrown up by my feet until he helped me bandage it. But hey, that car ran for me for 2 1/2 years, then I sold it to some crazy kids for $200 and they used it as a field car. I think I got my $500 worth out of it.
My friend Anne and I always talked about going to a Halloween parade with that car and making a stem to go on top. It didn't always stay just plain orange though. It got so rusted up that the latches on the driver's side seized up and I had to replace the whole door. Then, it was a pumpkin orange and maroon colored car. The interior of the door was white, when the rest of the interior was black with the ever so lovely houndstooth. Ah, they just don't make them like that any more. And Thank Goodness!
I have driven a few other cars since then: 1974 Dodge Dart sedan (and ugly 4-door grandma car that the frame broke on it just a year or so after I bought it); 1973 Chevy Nova with a V8 327(I think?), that I had glass pack mufflers on it when I was stationed in California to make it sound cooooool. I loved that car and always have wished I would have just put the money into it to get it fixed right. It only had an AM/FM radio in it that hardly worked, but it got me across the US when I got out of boot camp and went to my first duty station. It was a light metallic green with a dark green vinyl roof, and the interior was this shiny green fabric. I really liked that car. When it was getting to a point where it was in need of some costly repairs, I was just a few months away from transferring overseas, so I sold it and borrowed my brother's car that he wasn't using. Oh My God, was that a mistake. He had this car in storage for quite some time. It was in nice condition, a 1980 Red Dodge Mirada (I think they only made them one year). It was the cool car my older brother bought brand new when he was still in high school. It was the car we would go out with our friends in on the weekends with a really cool 8-track stereo in it. When I borrowed it from him, it still had the case of 8-tracks in it. But, since he just let it sit, little did we know, the fuel line was trashed. I found this out when I left Denver to drive back to San Diego. I got to New Mexico and started having some problems. By the time I got to Gallup, it died. I found a repair shop and they pulled the gas tank off and it was full of sediment and rust. They didn't have one to replace it with and it would take days to get a new one, but I only had two days and I had to be back or be UA (Unauthorized Absence-same as AWOL). So, the shop cleaned it best they could and we put fresh gas in and I headed out. I made it back to San Diego, barely. It was still giving me problems once I got to SD. I had a friend from work who worked on cars for people, so I took it to him. We ended up running all new fuel lines in that damn thing before it ran right. I was so glad to take it back to my brother when I was ready to transfer. In the end, I would have spent half the money to fix the Nova as I ended up spending on plane tickets and repairs to that Mirada.
My next vehicle was a brand new 1992 Chevy S-10 Maxi Cab pick-up truck. It was Frost White and I loved my little truck. It was perfect for me with it's 5-speed manual transmission, stereo with cassette player, the nice cargo space behind my seats to put things like groceries, a bed to haul bigger things like furniture. Ah, life was good with that truck. I never would have gotten rid of it except I was expecting our second child and the little jump seats in the back didn't work for car seats. So, on with the soccer mom vehicle, a 1995 Dodge Caravan. It was used, but ran well. It was good for a small but growing famiy. The only problem we had with it the first couple of years was that the floor was always freezing cold in the winter, no matter how high the heat was cranking. It wasn't until I took it in for an oil change one time and told them I wanted the heat checked on it. We found out then that the lines/tubes that ran the heat to the back were rotted out and all the outside air was being driven into the car floor space. NO WONDER my feet froze the time I road in the back! My kids were lucky enough that they were still up on car seats and bundled up pretty good.
Buy like every vehicle, it had its day where it needed to be upgraded. I then thought I needed and SUV. I traded in the van for a 1997 Chevy Suburban. Huge, ginormous mistake. First of all, climbing up into that thing to get kids in and out was a hassle. I had two preschoolers and a baby, and getting all three in and out....not fun. There is loads of space and it drives smoothly and I did like many things about it. Then there was the gas bill. Again, Oh My God! Top that off with the fact that trying to park that thing anywhere was hell. Six months later, I bought my present 2003 Chrysler Town and Country mini van. I now have about 105,000 miles on it and it still is running quite well. It has some wear on it, and scratches and a couple of dents, but it has been a great vehicle. However, now my lifestyle has changed once more, and I think I will be getting myself a truck again this summer.
So, there it is, the story of my cars. Anne, I am sorry if it isn't all as exciting as you remember it. The 'good ol' days' are a bit fuzzy for me now that my life is so much different than it was back then. And 'then' is 30-years ago. I have traveled many, many, many, many, many miles since then.
It is time for me to go fire up the mini van now that it has warmed up to 0˚F from last night's -15˚F. I need to run my errands for the day.
CC
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