The first, second, and third cars I ever wanted

I was about 10 years old and I was walking to the corner grocery store, probably to get milk and bread, like usual. There, in the driveway of a neighbor whom I did not know, was a bright orange Dodge Charger! Wow!

I’m not really a “car” person, and for me a car (or a home) is more about function than form. My self-concept has little connection with whether it has scratches or dents or is dirty or clean, for that matter, and popularity  is irrelevant. Does it do what I need it to do, and if possible, is it a color that I like. 

So: I saw the Dodge Charger, and I was really taken with it. I went home and told my family that I wanted one of those when I learned to drive. I think my Dad pointed out that maybe since that car would be about 8 years old by then, I might be able to afford it. There was just something about the shape of it, as well as being orange, which I love. It was cool.

  Just imagine it in orange!

Ok, so the next car I remember thinking was really, really cool was the Ford Mustang. There were a number of years that I liked, but I always wanted the best shade of red, and no convertible. There were also some that were made that I didn’t like. Ok, so I got the orange on this one – there’s only so many pix available online in a 2 minute search.  🙂 You get the idea.

The next car that I really liked, I actually got! My first car was an old Ford Falcon, as mentioned in an earlier post. My second was an old green Pinto and my third was a newer Pinto, light blue – the first “pretty” car I had. I was watching TV one night and I saw an ad that said “Chevy Chevette, it’ll drive you happy…..” (I can still sing it!)  I took one look at it and said, “I like that car! I would love to have one of those.” It just suited me. It was practical and classy in it’s own way, had four doors (I was tired of two door cars) and well, I like it. Sometime after that my Dad bought a black one with a red stripe on the side of it and I really liked driving it. So after our Pinto died at 5:45 a.m. on a morning when it was literally 10 degrees below zero in Detroit, we bought a Chevette from the same dealer my Dad had gone to. He made the deal and we chose the color off of a color chart….which unfortunately turned out to be a chart from the year before. We went in to get the car, and it was all prepped and ready – we had signed the papers and handed over a check with a deep swallow at the thought of spending $4000 ove the next 3 years for a brand new car – our first…..and we walked outside and it was the wrong color! It was supposed to be royal blue on the chart, but it was actually turquoise. Yikes! Inside, I wanted to balk. I wanted to change it, but there it sat, all ready signed for, running, and ready, and I knew that my husband would not understand the aesthetics of the color difference. So I gulped and determined to drive a turquoise car and by so doing learned that one can get over such disappointments eventually (although I did gripe now and then, I’m afraid.)

Just imagine this one in a dark turquoise color. This – was a great car. We drove it for 6 years, sold it to my brother who drove it for another two years, and then he sold it to our sister who drove it for another year or two. If we hadn’t moved quickly from two kids to four, we would have driven it longer still.