Do you remember your first car?
Was it one you picked out or your parents? Mine was the latter. I wanted a
Mustang. A red Mustang. A used one would have been okay. Big
problem. The two hundred dollars I had to spend on a car didn’t stretch that
far. So Dad convinced me to buy an ugly blue-green Mercury. I never liked that
car.
Four years later, I bought the
next best thing to a Mustang (which I still couldn’t afford)—a red Cougar. Sporty,
great for a single girl. I didn’t care that it was two years old. I loved that
car. Then that bane of automobiles back in those days attacked my favorite car.
Rust. My beloved Cougar rusted so badly when you opened the trunk you could see
through to the pavement. Hubs said he married me for my “mill” car. He worked
at a steel mill where the pickling acid in the air ate cars. Since he drove my
very rusted Cougar, I got to drive his brand new Monte Carlo. I definitely got
the better part of that deal.
In my books, my
characters' vehicles tell something about them. In Switched, Jessie puts her money into growing her business so she drives
a truck that’s almost as old as she is. Straight-laced Marcus, however, when
he’s not captaining a starship has a candy apple red Speeder—an indication that
he isn’t always so uptight. In The Pilot,
Celara’s vehicle is a cargo hauler that she resurrected from a junk heap. After
spending every spare minute repairing it, the starship became the first thing
she owned as well as her home.
Over the years, Hubs and I have owned
many cars. Some were just for transportation, some practical. But I never did
get that red Mustang. So I did the next best thing. In Switched, the Aftermath (next book in
the Switched series) Marcus’ mother drives my dream car.
What was your first car? Favorite
car? Dream car?
Great post Diane! I got my first car when I was a junior in high school - It was the family station wagon, but I was thrilled to have it. My second car was an almost new silver Chevette, and I loved that car, because I got to pick it out for myself.
ReplyDeleteThe 1st car I ever drove was the family station wagon, too. LOL
DeleteMy first car was a used '67 yellow Mustang when I was fifteen. I was working for my parents as an auto parts-delivery person which is why I had a driver's license that young. But I paid for that sucker, $75/mo for two years. Originally it was Playboy Pink and by the time I got married and had my first child the yellow was flaking off. I wanted to paint it back to the original pink, hubby wouldn't hear of it (he's a former hubby, btw) so I ended up selling it. Incidentally in Trust No One, my heroine, who is a small town mechanic, restored her 67 playboy pink mustang herself. Gotta love those Mustangs! :)
ReplyDeletePlayboy pink! I remember that!
DeleteI think I see a pattern here. I also wanted a Mustang! The first car I drove was my mom's '59 white Olds convertible. Tail fins and all! I drove my girlfriends around a lot in that car. It could really move out. Then I bought my first car, a '63 Rambler. Wow, what a difference. Couldn't very well speed in that thing but a dollar's worth of gas went a long way. We've also had many cars. The one I really hated was a big old Caprice sedan that always fish-tailed on slippery roads. My favorite vehicle for sure has been my van, that I'm still driving and it's 13 years old. I'll hate to see it go but will probably keep on driving it until it dies.
ReplyDeleteFun post, Diane. Thanks for sharing.
Mine was a red Triumph or TR4. Cutesy cutesy. However, it bit the dust before too long and I ended up with an Impala. (not black like the one the Winchester brothers drive) Thanks for the insightful, fun post.
ReplyDeleteI'll bet that TR4 was cute!
DeleteMy first car is still my dream car. I was lucky that my parents got me a used and quite distressed silver 78 Firebird with the screaming chicken on the hood. I was so mad when I had to share the car with my younger sister and she totalled it.
ReplyDeleteOh, no! I'd be mad, too.
DeleteMy first car was my Dad's '65 blue Mustang which was passed on to me when I graduated from high school. I loved that car!
ReplyDeleteGreat post, Diane. My older brother had something that had a stick shift which I couldn't drive, so I got my parent's second vehicle, a Buick Wildcat convertible. Now that I think about it, that car was probably a quite a gas hog. As newly weds, our first car was a dark blue, '68 mustang. Dearly loved that one. In fact, I put my heroine from Next Tuesday at Two in an updated version of a blue Mustang. Like Lucy, we too had a Caprice. Those cars never could handle slippery roads.
ReplyDeleteI think we’re of the same fate here. My first car was also a choice of my parents, only that it was originally theirs and was just handed down to me when they bought a new one. Hmm… Anyway, my all-time favorite car is the Dodge Challenger, a competitor of your Mustang. Do you have any idea why we tend to like muscle cars? ;)
ReplyDeleteI’m so grateful the first time I had my own car. My parents were the one who purchased it but they gave me the chance to decide what I wanted. :’) I chose a 1992 Mazda Miata MX-5. I’ve had it for almost 18 years now and it’s still running great!
ReplyDelete