My first cars
One of the things about me is that I am a total car nut. Ever since I was a kid, I have had a love for cars. My mom often tells the story of picking me up from pre school and me impressing one of her co-workers with my knowledge of makes and models. After reading that my youngest cousin turned 16 today, I decided to blog about driving and cars.
I couldn't wait to drive, and I literally drove as soon as I could. My birthday is January 1st. Due to the holiday weekend, I wasn't able to make my appointment until January 4th. The earliest appointment was March 22nd! Yes I had to wait nearly 3 months, but it gave me plenty of time to learn how to properly drive.
I did drive with my mom for a while. If anyone knows my mom and Tracy will attest to this, she isn't a very good passenger. One night my dad told me that he would take me and let me drive the tavern route. He sat in the back of our Dodge Caravan and the lady sat in the front. At our first stop, he had me parallel park. He just said, "Chris, stop here and parallel park." I said, "I don't know how." He replied, "Now you will learn, do it." That night I was parallel parking between all of the Mercedes and BMW's outside of the ghetto bars of Waterbury.
I got my license and actually logged many miles in that 1989 Dodge Caravan. I even took a girl to the prom in it. I had to swallow big on that one, but I had no money! I did wash and wax it really nice though! When my parents moved to Philadelphia, I was thrilled we had a Bonneville!
Soon it became time for me to get my first car. We were driving around and narrowed our picks down to two cars. A 1983 Honda Prelude, and a 1985 Dodge Daytona. I have always loved Honda's, so that was my first choice. At the time I could not drive manual shift. The Honda was an automatic, and the Daytona was a 5 speed.
We bought the Honda, and I felt like a million bucks driving it around! It had a sunroof, and tinted windows. It was a nice looking clean car. After about 6 weeks of ownership, I was driving it home from college and my temperature gauge was soaring. I blew my head gasket! $800 dollars and a couple of weeks of repairs later, I got my car back. I was happy, and things were going well until a couple of weeks later when the engine was making some horrible racket and had no power...my engine blew!
Instantly we began to look for a new car. My mom actually found a station wagon, but my dad said, "I am not buying my son a wagon." Way to go Dad!
Mom and Dad found a car for me while I was at work one night. I asked my dad, "did you find any cars tonight?" His reply was quick and stern, "Yes we did and we are buying it, a 1989 Plymouth Horizon." My heart sunk! A Plymouth Horizon I thought! All I see is 80 year old women driving them! My dad continued about how it only had 43000 miles on it, and we would have the balance of the factory warranty on it. At the time Chrysler products had a warranty of 7 years/70,000 miles. After the junk Honda we bought, dad wanted protection. At least the car was my favorite color...silver. I owned that car for 6 years. When I sold it it had 98,000 miles on it and I would have taken it anywhere. It was a great car. It didn't look like much, but it had it where it mattered.
I asked someone recently who was related to the person I sold it to if it was still on the road and they didn't know. It wouldn't surprise if it was. That car was an energizer bunny.
I couldn't wait to drive, and I literally drove as soon as I could. My birthday is January 1st. Due to the holiday weekend, I wasn't able to make my appointment until January 4th. The earliest appointment was March 22nd! Yes I had to wait nearly 3 months, but it gave me plenty of time to learn how to properly drive.
I did drive with my mom for a while. If anyone knows my mom and Tracy will attest to this, she isn't a very good passenger. One night my dad told me that he would take me and let me drive the tavern route. He sat in the back of our Dodge Caravan and the lady sat in the front. At our first stop, he had me parallel park. He just said, "Chris, stop here and parallel park." I said, "I don't know how." He replied, "Now you will learn, do it." That night I was parallel parking between all of the Mercedes and BMW's outside of the ghetto bars of Waterbury.
I got my license and actually logged many miles in that 1989 Dodge Caravan. I even took a girl to the prom in it. I had to swallow big on that one, but I had no money! I did wash and wax it really nice though! When my parents moved to Philadelphia, I was thrilled we had a Bonneville!
Soon it became time for me to get my first car. We were driving around and narrowed our picks down to two cars. A 1983 Honda Prelude, and a 1985 Dodge Daytona. I have always loved Honda's, so that was my first choice. At the time I could not drive manual shift. The Honda was an automatic, and the Daytona was a 5 speed.
We bought the Honda, and I felt like a million bucks driving it around! It had a sunroof, and tinted windows. It was a nice looking clean car. After about 6 weeks of ownership, I was driving it home from college and my temperature gauge was soaring. I blew my head gasket! $800 dollars and a couple of weeks of repairs later, I got my car back. I was happy, and things were going well until a couple of weeks later when the engine was making some horrible racket and had no power...my engine blew!
Instantly we began to look for a new car. My mom actually found a station wagon, but my dad said, "I am not buying my son a wagon." Way to go Dad!
Mom and Dad found a car for me while I was at work one night. I asked my dad, "did you find any cars tonight?" His reply was quick and stern, "Yes we did and we are buying it, a 1989 Plymouth Horizon." My heart sunk! A Plymouth Horizon I thought! All I see is 80 year old women driving them! My dad continued about how it only had 43000 miles on it, and we would have the balance of the factory warranty on it. At the time Chrysler products had a warranty of 7 years/70,000 miles. After the junk Honda we bought, dad wanted protection. At least the car was my favorite color...silver. I owned that car for 6 years. When I sold it it had 98,000 miles on it and I would have taken it anywhere. It was a great car. It didn't look like much, but it had it where it mattered.
I asked someone recently who was related to the person I sold it to if it was still on the road and they didn't know. It wouldn't surprise if it was. That car was an energizer bunny.
posted by Christian at
9/05/2006 09:42:00 PM
1 Comments:
Jonathan's first car was a Bronco. He owned it for a year but never got to drive it before it was sold. It was a stick and he was saving the car for college since he had his mother's car whenever he wanted to use it. He decided to let it sit rather than pay insurance on a car he would not need until college.
When we moved to N VA and I got a company car, Evie took over my car and Jonathan took over his mother's. The Bronco got sold.
Over a year ago Jonathan bought his own Cavelier (with some help from Dad).
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