My first car was a Blue 1980 Saab Turbo 900. Yeah, I was just THAT cool.
It was the summer between my Freshman and Sophomore years of college. I had been looking for a car that was 1) cheap, 2) cute, and 3) cheap.....oh wait...I already said that. Back in those days....the internet was barely an embryo. We had to LOOK IN THE NEWSPAPER. The horror!!!
So I saw the ad.....Saab....5-speed (a stick shift!)....sunroof....$1,000. I was in love before I even saw the car. My dad and I met the woman and since I couldn't drive a stick (yet), Dad drove it around. All seemed good. We had a mechanic look at it, who said it was fine. So one grand later.....I was the owner of a car! I registered it, and got vanity license plates. LUVN YA. Gee...can you tell I was 18????
Then I had to learn to DRIVE the car. Dad and I went to the community college parking lot (a rite of passage...everyone learned to drive in this parking lot). Those first few tries were rough. Anyone who drives a stick will tell ya that there is a learning curve. Gas, clutch....it is a dance. Once you know how to do it, it is fine. But you better be prepared to stall the car....alot....while you are learning.
Once I got the basics...we went looking for hills. Another obstacle in driving a stick....starting on a hill. And I can proudly say that I learned without using my emergency brake. I can get up some REALLY steep hills. Then Dad threw me to the wolves and made me drive home in rush hour traffic, on a major road. I stalled the car at a stop light, and the cars were honking at me, and I panicked and, and, and....I cried. We finally got home, and I cried to my mom that Dad was mean, and made me drive the car, and I wasn't ready and, and, and WAH! Mom gave Dad the hairy eyeball.
But eventually I got it....and I was rolling! Now, I found out the idiosyncrasies of the car. Like, while I thought it was fine that the car didn't have A/C, it really wasn't fine when it was 95 degrees out and I was sitting in traffic. Nothing like a big sweat stain on the seat of your car.
Speaking of the seat...shortly after I bought it, the springs in the seat gave out. My butt hit the floor. I looked like a little ole blue hair who could barely see over the steering wheel. I had to stuff old pillows under the seat to prop it up. Nice....
The radio...it was ancient, by 1993 standards. So I bought a new one...that didn't quite fit. So it sort of stuck out. The sunroof stuck. Not good when it started raining. Once you got it closed...it leaked....just a little.
Slowly but surely, this and that started to go. The kiss of death was when I was driving to work, and when I stepped on the brake, this oily liquid came gushing out all over my feet. I later found out that was brake fluid, and it was my master cylinder that just went.
I got about 2 years from that car. It drove me around for late night Taco Bell runs and Dunkin Donut runs. My boyfriend and I would leave campus, just because we could. I took that car on a few road trips, and it saw it's share of *action*....cough cough (did I mention I was 18 and in college and had a boyfriend????)
I sometimes miss my car. I loved driving a stick shift. I loved the freedom. My minivan just doesn't have the same pull as that first car. But we all had to start somewhere, right?
How about you.....tell me about your first car!!!
ETA: In discussing this with G-man, I realized my car is a 2000....which means that some 18 year old MAY be buying the same year car as I am driving as a 36 yr old. I am twice their age and driving the same car!!! Interesting how it all comes full circle.
My first car was a Volkswagen Rabbit (found through a newspaper ad!) with manual EVERYTHING! No power steering, locks ... nothing. When the weather got really hot, it was start smoking. But it got me through college and summer jobs etc. Kids who start out with a new car with all the bells and whistles don't know what they're missing!
ReplyDeleteSarah
Gotta love your first car, especially if it has "character".
ReplyDeleteSarah and Jenny my first car was a Rabbit too. Rabbit looovveee.
My first car was a 1983 chevy celebrity. I had no power steering, so it took some muscles to turn that steering wheel. It had no antilock brakes so if you hit the brake hard everything locked up and you skidded to a stop. The directional would not blink so you had to turn it on and off really quick to make it look like it was blinking. It was an automatic but at the end it would stall everytime i came to a complete stop, so I became really good at putting it in neutral and starting it up again at every stop light and stop sign!! Traffic was really fun!! Oh and it did not have AC and it had vinyl seats!! I loved that car and I still in some ways miss it. It was an adventure to drive!!
ReplyDeleteLaurie
I can't remember the year, but I remember the car. It was VW Bug. Yellow. I had some great times in that car!
ReplyDeleteFirst, cars are really memorable, since most of your early days as a driver started with that car. My first car was a Honda Civic, I can't exactly remember what year it was, but I had fun driving it around.
ReplyDeleteHahah, yeah, our first cars are often memorable since it's often our first time driving one as well! Makes it sometimes pretty sad if we ever had to replace it for a new one, but at least we'd still have our memories from it, right? The car on the pic looks nice; and thankfully we now have the internet to help us find a car!
ReplyDeleteWe always remember our firsts! I can very well remember how happy I was when I received my first car from my parents. That time, I felt that I was never in any means going to give up on that car, but as years passed by, I had to buy a new one, to fit the need of my own family. My first car is still in our family with my younger brother as the new owner.
ReplyDelete-Nettie Christensen