What’s the First Car You Ever Owned?

No, this was not my first car. It was even worse than this.

Here’s one thing I’ll never do — make fun of someone else’s car.

You know the scene I’m thinking about.

When driving, you notice an old clunker that appears to be on its final tank of gas.  You pull up at a stoplight where a morbid temptation comes over you to turn your head and glance over at who’s driving the old shit box.

Don’t lie.  You do it.  We all do it.

However, you have to be very careful.  You don’t want to look like you’re staring.  These days, a driver might pull out a gun if you look at him the wrong way.

Yes, I admit it.  I’ve rubbernecked a few cars and drivers over the years.  Okay, a few dozen.  Alright, maybe a few hundred.  Sorry, but I can’t stop myself from gawking when there’s a $2,000 set of shiny new mag wheels and a supersonic stereo system loaded with boombox hooked up to a $400 car.  Ever seen one of those jobs, where the tires and rims or the stereo system are worth way more than the car?

Still, I won’t ever make fun of people who drive shitty cars for a good reason.  That’s because I’ve driven more than a few shitty cars myself over the years.

Remember your first car?  What kind of car was it?  How much did it cost?  Whatever happened to it?  If you’re like most people, it was probably something really cheap, and by today’s standards, embarrassingly awful-looking.

Today, I’m going to have some fun.  I’ll reflect back on some of the cars — good and bad — that I’ve owned.  Each car has its own unique story.  As you may know, I’ve purchased every one of my cars used.  I’ve never bought a new car before.

1970 Toyota Corona

1970 Toyota Corona — This was my very first car (just like the one in the picture above).  I bought it at age 18, while a senior in high school.  I bought this car for $600 in cash and drove the hell out of it.  I wrecked it three times.  I raced it on city streets at over 100 mph.  Why?  Because that’s what stupid kids did back during the late 1970s, which was the era of muscle cars.  One time, I was racing and someone smashed into the driver’s side door.  So, I went to a junkyard and bought another door with a mismatched color for $50 to replace it.  For the next year, I drove a white car with a gold door.  At least it had mag wheels and a great stereo system.  The oddest thing about this particular car is, today it would be considered a classic since it was the very first-year Japanese imports were introduced into the United States.  I eventually sold it for $100 to a guy who bought it and then drove all the way to Michigan.  Toyotas sure are great cars —  both today and way back then, too.

1975 Volvo 240 Series

1975 Volvo — I adored this car.  It gave me lots of happy memories with it.  It instilled within me a love for quirky European cars before they later became fashionable in the U.S.  My mother bought this Volvo for me for $3,000 — which was a fair amount of money at the time.  I drove this car all through my college years at Texas, and then up to Washington, D.C. after graduation when I took my first job.  I even drove the car back to Dallas, before it finally met a sad and undeserving ending.  I wrecked this car twice, the first time which completely demolished the front end.  That didn’t stop me from putting another two years and 30,000 more miles on it.  I drove it with a smashed grill which was sort of like an anti-chick magnet for me.  When it was finally towed away from a grocery store parking lot after sitting dormant for a few months, it had well over 240,000 miles on it.  True story — I finally abandoned the car when a homeless man was found living inside it.

1980 Oldsmobile Cutless

1980 Oldsmobile Cutless Supreme — I went through some tough times right after graduating from college and working in Washington, D.C. (the first time I moved there).  I couldn’t find a job and was broke.  Once again, my mother took mercy on me and bailed me out, giving me her old car after she bought a new one.  Of course, I ended up wrecking this car, too.  Only this time, the accident wasn’t my fault.  I used to drive this car (just like the one pictured above) to the racetrack at Louisiana Downs almost every week.  No wonder I was broke all the time.  It was ugly as shit, but it always got me to where I needed to go.  Funny Story:  The transmission went out during the last six months I owned it.  I could not drive the car over 35 mph.  So, I ended up driving city streets at 35 mph the entire time.  I couldn’t even take the car on the highway.

1984 Peugeot 505

1984 Peugeot 505 — I loved this car.  This car produced some great war stories for me.  I bought this car in Bucharest, Romania, and drove it while working at the American Embassy over there.  It was badass.  The car may not look like much today, but on the streets of an Eastern Bloc city in a Communist country around 1989, this was a real head-turner.  I drove this car all over Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, and even parts of Turkey.  I paid $4,000 for it and barely changed the oil even once.  Contrary to biases against French cars (especially in the U.S.), this car was flawless mechanically.  How the suspension held up in the cobblestone streets of Bucharest is a testament to this car’s performance.  I sold it for $3,500 after I left Romania.  I would have brought it back to the U.S. with me, but it didn’t mean the DOT standards (which are a farce designed to keep superior European cars out of the U.S. market).  This gave me a lifelong love of Peugeot, which you’ll see from my next two cars.

1986 Peugeot

1986 Peugeot 505 — Look at this beast!  This car is a head-turner today, nearly 30 years later.  Gorgeous design and one mean motherfucker to drive.  I owned two cars like this one — back to back.  Both were black.  This car met a sad ending.  One night, I left something plugged into the cigarette lighter (a charger).  It overheated, and the interior caught on fire.  The leather burst into flames and the car burned up.  So, I had to junk this car and went out and bought another one, just like it.

END OF PART 1

TOMORROW, I’LL CONTINUE WITH A LIST OF THE BEST AND WORST CARS I’VE OWNED