Everyone remembers their first car. Your first set of wheels may have produced a long-standing love affair. Or it may have become a love-hate relationship…..loved the freedom but embarrassed by what your parents gave you to drive.
What was yours? Color? Model? Special attributes like a big back seat for…….?
I was a lucky girl with no money, but a teacher who understood. Mr. Cook, the chemistry prof, sold me his 1953 Plymouth for $1 with the understanding that I’d sell it back when I was done with it. It had no heat….but big seats and stick-in-the-column shifting. It was a tank that protected me when I ran into the side of the house. True love.
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My brother was in your class he drove a 1930 Ford Model A it was the best car to ride in cause he could make it back fire on call and scare the hell out of people
Still to this day one of my favorite cars 1964 Ford Fairlane 500 3 on the tree - guess I had a special attachement due to putting 3 transmissions in that car (whew!). Loved it so much wanted to have it crushed to forever keep on my mantle....but it gave me the freedom I needed. Me and "tin lizzy" went everywhere.
Like Karen, I didn't have 'my' car until after college. During HS, I drove my dad's 1949 Cadillac. We had to go through all kinds of rituals to get it to start, but once we got going, it was pretty easy...except when parking.
I drove a 64 Chevy Impala maroon 2dr black Int. manual shift or as we call it 3 on th tree.and manual drum brakes which took about a block in a half to stop
I didn't get to call a car "mine" until after college but my siblings and I shared an Oldsmobile Delta 88 that we lovingly referred to as "The Limo". It burned more oil than gas but managed to get us where we were going. Each of us learned that if we put a quarter's worth of gas in it at the station near our house we could get home and leave it nearly empty for the next one.
The unfortunate demise of the car came when my future sister-in-law misjudged the speed of a parked car! RIP Limo.
I had a bright blue with black racing stripes 1970 Ford Maverick. My dad put the down payment on car, then I had to pay $69.21 per month for 5 years out of my Spartan Atlantic paycheck. Also had to pay for insurance & gas. At least gas prices were about $. 40 per gallon back then. Those were the days. Dad got tired on taking & picking me up from work all the time.
I had the pleasure of driving a 1962 Ford Galaxy. White top, blue body. Then we had some kind of minor accident and couldn't afford real body work on it. So we found a purple hood for it from some junk yard. A three-toned car was just perfect for cruisin' Steak, yes it was.
Love it! Why don't I remember such a beautiful car?
I drove a 1956 VW bug, the year after the split rear window model. It still had the turn flippers on the sides but my parents had to convert those to meet legal requirements so they no longer functioned by the time I was in h.s. It had no radio so I carried a transistor and it had been imported from Germany so speedometer was in kilometers. It also had no gas gauge and it wasn't unusual for me to run out of gas. But it had a lever on the floor near accelerator that I could flip with my foot to access the spare tank. Fun little car--lots of memories driving that!
For graduation, my mom 'gave' me a 1964 powder blue Chevy Malibu convertible. I had to pay her back the $2,558 starting with my first pay check which I received two weeks after graduation. Ugh! I loved that car and was happy for the 'gift.' That car took a group of us on a late-night tour of Forest Park after our graduation party. We were pulled over by a classmate's police officer brother. He gave us a warning and sent us on our way.
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