This is a story about an 85 year old woman and her car. She drove it to her 70th HS reunion and really knows how to protect herself....She has driven this car 540,000+ miles.
On the left side there are links to 2 updates on her and her car.
My first car was a 1961 Ford Valiant with a push button automatic. I left it at home when I got married because we flew back to Massachusetts. When I came back a year and a half later and my dad had sold it. Loved that car.
My first car was a 1941 Chevy Coupe, It's probably been resting in the junkyard by now. It cost $ 75, it was it in the rear and the damage cost $ 85 to repair. My favorite was my Red ' 89 Corvette, I kept that car for 16 years, I only put 72,000 miles on it.
My brother and I pooled our mustering out pay from the Navy to buy a used 1940 Plymouth for $600 in 1948 (cars were hard to come by right after the war -- none were manufactured during the war years) and about the only thing good about it was the paint job -- an awful car, and I've steered clear of Chrysler products ever since! The agreement was that whichever one of us married first would own the car, so that's what DW and I drove for the first couple of years of our marriage while at Georgia Tech. Cars of that era were considered basically "over the hill" after about 40,000 miles because of imminent maintenance problems like ring and valve jobs, connecting rod bearings, etc., so we replaced that in 1950 with a used '49 Ford, and then replaced that a couple of years later with our first NEW car -- a '52 Ford for something like $2200.
When I was 15 years old (in 1946)my father bought our place in Maine. When we opened the barn there was a 1928 Buick touring car (convertible). My father said it was mine if I could get it running. It ran beautifully, had only 7,000 original miles on it. I used it through college and part of medical school. One day I parked it in front of my girl's (now my wife) house. The brake let go and it rolled down the hill hitting a tree. There was only $150 in damage, but I didn't have the money, so I sold it. Years later I saw a picture of it in the paper as best in show of the local antique car show. I sure wish I had it back. It was lots of fun to drive.
My first car (when I was 16) was a yellow Triumph GT6+. Dad made me keep it home during my first semester away at school.....a couple of months into school, my hometown experienced a flood......my car was trashed. When I got the word about it, I was heartbroken and stunned. He replaced it for me that Christmas with a red MG convertible. What a guy!!!! (and all I had wanted was a bicycle to get around campus!) No, I don't have that anymore.......when I dropped out of college, dad took it back and sold it. Lesson learned.
My first two cars were pieces of trash...I was a poor college student..and not worth mentioning. But the next one, ah...was a 1941 Cadillac club coupe, stick shift with a 400 cu. in. flathead V-8. I just wish I had that dude right now.
In our days, driving jalopys were the "in thing". I still remember seeing groups of guys pushing cars in the parking lot getting them started. My car was affectionately called "Opeejay" which was short for Old Piece of Junk. It was a Studebaker!! Green! With venetian blinds across the back window. sooo cool.
Stuntgirl, your mention of the old british sports cars brings back fond memories of my old bug eyed AH Sprite I had when I was in college, it was white with a red interior and had side curtains that always leaked in the rain.
My first car was a 52 Chevy owned by my first husband when we first started dating in 1964. I learned to drive in that car, I lost my virginity in that car and hauled my first child around in it doing errands and going to the laundramat. Lost track of it when we "came up in the world" and bought a 54 Ford when our second child was born but I have never forgotten it.
Don't know if it's still running, but it sure did run then! 1966 red Mustang convertible, with white interior! Haulover Beach and Crandon Park in Miami saw lots of it! it was the first car I ever bought on my own and I sure wish I had it now!
Talking about "losing it"..I think that's why I liked the '41 Caddy. A great first time memory! I had, later on, a '56 Chevy Del Ray 2-dr. with the 'power package' of duals and a 4-barrel carb. (auto. trans.) Boy, that thing could fly! Two tone, white and turquoise, with the fancy interior. (sigh).
TJ, we also had a new '56 Chevy 2 dr., which supposedly had the hightest horsepower to weight ratio of any stock car at that time (0 to 60 in less than 7 seconds) -- also two tone -- black and turquoise.