Thursday, March 06, 2008

Vroom Vroom Vroom


The cars we’ve owned in the past and the memories associated with them


Everyone remembers their first car. Some are great memories some not so much. But there are some cars that, first, second or third, will live in our memories for years to come. Below are some of the Maven's memorable cars:

Ciara:
1. My first car was a ’69 VW hatchback. I learned to drive standard with that car and oh yes, lots of fond memories including taking a curve way too fast and rising up on two wheels. Scared the bejeebers out of me.

2. My second clunker was a ’68 Ford Torino, but it had only 60,000 miles on her when we bought her in ’76. I loved that car. We put a CB radio in her, so I remember well, hooking up with others and meeting them at the local Sonic

3. ’85 RX7 or at least I think it was an ’85 model. Might have been an ’84 but I bought it right after we married and it was my first “dream” car. When I got pregnant, I had to let my husband drive it the last two months of my term because I couldn’t fit behind the steering wheel. I drove the pick-up.

4. Red Dog or a ’77 Dodge pickup with the top cut out. DH and I dated in that truck, then he sold it. He’d never paid for it as it was a gift from his father who told him, if he could get it running, it was his. We sold it the year after we got married. Five years later, we moved and looked across the street and there, in the drive was the old pickup. A year after that, the folks that owned it said if we could make it run and get it out of their drive, we could have it. Yep, we’ve never paid for that vehicle and we’ve owned it twice. We ended up donating it to charity a few years ago.

Phyllis's Answers:
5. My very first car was a Chevy Cavalier. Lots of late night dates in that car!

6. After I was married and the girls were small, we bought a mini-van (Voyager, I think). I enjoyed driving that van because I felt safe.

7. I had a Ford Pinto when I was pregnant with my youngest. My oldest was two, and decided to take a drive. I had just gotten out of the tub so I was still in my robe. Needless to say, I was chasing the car across the street before it dipped down the hill and ran into the Junior High School across the street from us.

Donica’s Answers

8. I got a 1974 Chrysler Cordoba (You know, the one’s Ricardo Montelban used to do commercials for. The ones with the “rich Corinthian Leather”.) That honey had a 440 and could get up and go—which she did, A LOT. I got into street races and beat everything I ran against. It was wonderful. I even raced a Porsche once. I won—only because the hottie behind the wheel let me. Went out with him a couple of times.

9. A 1965 Cadillac Coupe de Ville. White and black hardtop. She was so smooth it was like sailing down the highway. She hit 100 and I never realized it. Until I happened to look down. Thank God there were no cops out at the time. I had to sell her a couple of months ago. I’m still bummed about that. But she’s being restored to the glory she deserves.

10. 1992 Dodge Spirit. My first brand new car. I got it the same year I got my Caddie AND my daughter—and our first dog…that old car has rolled over 100K and she’s still kicking. DH drives it to work (45 minutes away) every day and while the serpentine belt gets thrown every time it rains, it’s still in good running shape. The only things that were wrong with the Blue Streak is the paint and the stereo has been replaced three times.

Becka’s Answers:

11. My very first car had been passed down from my sister, a hand-me-down car, if you will. It was bought by my father who drove it for awhile, then given to my sister until she made enough money at her job to buy herself another car. It was a crappy, run-down 1978 Datsun F-10, bright yellow stick-shift, and it was the love of my life. I went on many adventures in this car, the most memorable one when the arm rest fell off the passenger door and I put it to my ear, pretending it was a cell phone. Of course, it kind of looked like the cell phones of the day (1991 – 92), as they were all huge, but the funny thing was driving around in this ugly-ass rust bucket yakking on a phone. LOL It was pretty funny, and we got more than a few looks, my friends and I. You can’t believe how many people craned their necks to get a better view of the kids on the “phone”. >:D

12. My boyfriend, who was my soon-to-be husband, bought a new car with my father as the co-signer. It was a blue ’93 Geo Metro, stick-shift, and it was a great little car. I loved that thing, primarily because it was brand new, and I’d never driven a brand new car before. My father always shopped at the used car lots. Anyhow, my future DH had a job delivering pizzas for Dominos, and while on the job, got side-swiped by a drunk driver. That guy turned off his headlights and drove off into the night. DH, being the confrontational man he is, took off after him through an empty field. Probably not the best idea, as he didn’t see a ditch, it was so dark, and the car fell into it, ramming the front bumper into the engine. Long story short, the insurance said it was two separate accidents, the side-swipe and then the ditch. But it was the ditch that did the most damage to the car. So, they totaled it, and paid us what the car was worth, something like four grand, because of all the miles DH had put on it with the pizza delivery job. Of course we OWED like $8,000 on the damn thing, so we ended up paying a car payment for two years on a car we didn’t have. When we got the pink slip from the DMV finally, we were pretty bitter, owning a car that was sitting in a junk yard somewhere.

13. We bought an old Chevy Sprint from a friend of ours and drove it until it broke down on us. I don’t remember what year the car was, but it was a powder blue color. Of course, in L.A., they have street sweeping days, and if your car is sitting on the street on those days, you get a $20 ticket. Instead of getting a stupid ticket every week, we’d put the car in neutral, and “push” it around the block to the next street with our other car, a ’91 Mazda Protégé. Must have looked kind of funny seeing one car push another around the corner week after week. When the sweeper day was done, we had to push it back around to our house because the next day was sweeper day on the other street. LOL Good times. We finally donated the car to muscular dystrophy or something like that. Heh.





Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

1 comment:

Susan Helene Gottfried said...

I love the story of the pickup truck that kept coming back!

I did NOT have such interesting cars. In fact, they are best left in the past, where they belong, hopefully never to be unearthed by the National Enquirer.