July 21, 2021

WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CAR?


 

Mine was my grandfather’s last car, a 1957 Chevy. 

I was stationed at Ft. Eustis, Virginia when my mother called to tell me that she was arranging to give me my Grandfather’s car.  I didn’t know the history behind it.  I didn’t know it was a classic, but I did know that it was only a few years old.  I arranged to have a couple of other WACS from San Diego fly out and drive back with me.  It was the great adventure.

Grandfather, Gimpa, had always driven Buicks or Oldsmobile’s.  Someone at the local Buick dealer must have irritated him mightily as he went to the next dealership down the street and bought a bottom line Chevy.   It was all turquoise two door, center post, with no fancy trim and small block, 6 cylinder engine. 

Gimpa drove by hugging the curb until there was something in front of him.  He would go around it then go back to hugging the curb.  This scared mother so much that she had me drive him to church my last high school years.  By the early sixties when I was far away in the wilds of Virginia, he had several horrific accidents one killing a small child.  He made a habit of knocking down the stone gate pillars to the golf course too.  By the time I got the car, there wasn’t a scratch on it.

I met, married, and got pregnant with daughter Margot in Fort Eustis.  My husband was accepted to Art Center in photography in LA.  We loaded up that Chevy topping the roof stack with my heavy duty ironing board and headed back across country to California.  One day we banged the driver’s side door in a gas station.  A one foot by one foot section fell out.  It was lead…they used to use lead instead of Bondo.  We sold the Chevy.

Please tell me about your first car.  I would really be interested.

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  • <A HREF=http://geeeee-zer.blogspot.com/>Himself:</A>   Laundry and exercises.
  • Myself:  Getting winter out of my closet to make more room.
  • Reading:  J. K. Galbraith’s memoirs.
  • Watching:  KPBS:  Bake.
  • Weather:  80 at the beach
  • Gratitude’s:  To have a big closet to clean out.

12 comments:

  1. The First one was a 1963 VW with a sunroof. I bought it shortly after my 16th birthday. The heater didn't work. I was living in Colorado in the winter. The electrical system, 6 volt, was "challenged" so you had to pick between headlights or windshield wipers. Couldn't run both at the same time.

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  2. That was the year I graduated. The 57 Chevy is a classic. Goodness though your grand father was a scary driver.
    My first car was a $50 something that lasted a month. My first real car was a new 61 Metropolitan convertible. Loved that car and had it 9 years.

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  3. It was a 1971 Ford Maverick. It was red and quite nice for a student. None of my subsequent cars have been red, I am sorry to say. I am also sorry that I don't have any great stories to go with it. :(

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  4. I had a small student loan which I paid off during my first year teaching. Put all my money into the loan repayment, thenI bought a yellow 1976 Malibu. I loved that car. It was big compared to what many of us are driving today.

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  5. A used Ford Galaxie, early sixties, three on the steering column stick. My fairly cruel husband decided to teach me to drive a stick by parking it on a very steep hill and telling me to drive it the rest of the way up. I refused. A girlfriend taught me to drive it, and I made it a point of teaching all my girlfriends who had to learn how to drive a stick.

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  6. Love the photo! First car I drove was my parents' 1961 VW bug convertible. First car I owned was a 1971 VW 411. Haven't owned a VW since.

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  7. my first car at 15 was a hand me down from my older sister when she went off to college, a Corvair. I didn't even have it a year before I wrecked it. wasn't my fault though. driving on the freeway and some old guy pulled into my lane right in front of me. I hit the brakes and swerved hard to the left to the empty lane next to me, car spun out of control bouncing all around the guardrail. knocked me unconscious and was whizzed off to the hospital in an ambulance. my only injuries were bruises and a concussion. my next car was a brand new MGB at 16 (mostly because my father wanted one). I drove that one for about 4 years until my father got rid of it because it was in constant need of repair.

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  8. You may have seen it…bright red 1957 TR-3…my mom’s brother’s car…drove it to Southwestern, then my dad traded it in on a new car for my mom and I was given a 1961 Ford Faclcon…which I promptly wrecked driving to college…hitting another Ford Falcon, we had 2 stuck together and they looked like they were mating…and then had a Nash Rambler. The guy in the backseat when I wrecked the Falcon is still a good friend all these years later. I never had a car up north at Humboldt State until my dad got me a new mustard yellow Datsun sedan when I graduated Humboldt and went to grad school in Eugene. He made car payments until I had a full time job, which I had 18 months later, then I finished paying it off…Love ya…Katy

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  9. I had a used Chrysler that had one of the first automatic shifts requiring I lift my foot from the accelerator for the gear shift to change. This was an inappropriate car for me, plus found out it had an oil leak. Oh well, was comfortable and I enjoyed it.

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  10. I'm not sure exactly of the year, but my first car in 1966 was a 1959ish blue Chevy Impala with big wings. I was 17 and afraid to drive it. My father wanted something sturdy and protective for me. He bought it 2nd hand and just brought it home.

    ReplyDelete
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