Saturday, January 31, 2009
To all the cars I drove before
I never finished this one, but what the heck. Here goes...
Jonathan Schwartz mentions in his book that when he was a kid making lists was something he did to calm down when got anxious.
OK. I'm not anxious, but here goes. My mother likes keeping track of cars that people have owned. They're milestones in our lives.
Cars I have owned
1. 1970 Ford Fairlane - bought from a co-worker of my father's when I was 15. Had to wait a couple of months to drive it. It had a bench front seat. I guess this is my midlife crisis, because I want that car back. TFAKA Pete, our friend Pete B., and I all had big blue sedans. We would drive past Kara R.'s house in the morning and honk. We called ourselves the Blues Patrol.
2. 1985 Plymouth Turismo - My parents bought me this when I was graduating from high school. I drove it the whole time I went to UT. No one with legs could fit in the back seat. I would have to put the back seat down and people would have to get in through the hatchback. Glen Benavides from Doctors' Mob rode in the car that way one time.
3. 1990 Chevy Lumina - First car Michelle and I bought together. She drove it out to California after I joined the Navy. Her brother went along for the drive. He left the emergency brake on while driving it one time, that earned him the nickname "Smoking Wheels."
We drove it from California to San Angelo when we transfered there. With a U-Haul hooked up behind. The knuckleheads in Monterey who put the trailer hitch in did it with one or two bolts. We stopped in Phoenix to have someone look at it for some reason, they were horrified.
When we passed through New Mexico we ran into the worst rainstorm I've ever seen in my life. Couldn't see five feet. That was bad because two minutes before we were on a mountain surrounded by 18-wheelers. Then I saw some lights which meant that the truck was within five feet. We managed to pull off at a Dairy Queen. I stood under the overhang and struggled to light a cigarette. I struggled to be able to put it in my mouth, my hands were shaking so badly.
We drove it from San Angelo to New Jersey. Lots of snow. Michelle drove it through many an ice storm in Maryland when she was essential personnel.
4. Mercury Grand Marquis - I'm not even sure about that one. Was it a Marquis or a Grand Marquis? I bought it from Javier, the soldier who sat next to me at the basic Russian course at DLI. He was from Houston too. Our class sergeant, Ron, found out that Javier had never had a drink and was turning 21. So we took him to the Tex-Mex place, was it El Torito that was by the water? Anyway, we figured that seeing as he was Hispanic he ought to lose his drinking virginity to tequila.
Wicked people we were. That night ended up with Ron, Javier, and me stuffed by Ron's wife into their hatchback. We sang Beastie Boys songs all the way home. I'm in my car, I'm going far, and Cuervo's what I'm using.
Javier didn't want to charge me anything for the car, he knew it would die any day. Michelle and I insisted on paying him something, so we made him take $200. After Javier gave me the instructions on how to start it, I regretted on the insisting.
You had to turn the key and leave it in place for 2 minutes. Then you could turn it over once. If the car started, you had to let it run, without touching the gas, for at least five minutes. If it didn't start you had to let it sit for a minute, then start again.
I had to get out of the house way early to make sure I could get to the barracks on time. Once the car started it was pretty good. It got me from our apartment in PG to DLI pretty reliably. Going home, not so good, but that wasn't so much of a worry.
It died after three months, blew a rod. A salvage company gave me $50 for it. So $150 for three months' of driving. Not bad.
5. Mazda RX-7
I can't remember what year it was. We bought it in Maryland off of some Chinese guy. His family had a Chinese restaurant and they gave us some free food and me a beer or two after we did the deal there.
When I walked out to the car, he had taken the plates off. He told me this was a normal thing to do, I had no idea, not being from Maryland. So I drove home with beer breath, in a car registered to some guy with a Chinese name, and no plates. I remeember hoping my military ID would help out on any problems.
That was kind of a fun car to drive. Except in the ice. I was essential personnel at the Fort and lived on post. I would pile everything heavy I owned into the truck to try and put some weight on the wheels. With ice, it didn't matter, I don't know why I bothered. I spun out driving 2 miles per hour.
6. 1994 Ford Explorer
Right before the second transfer to Monterey, we traded in the Lumina and the Mazda for the Explorer. That was the second best car we ever got. It was big, roomy, great for a military family on the move. We could put Abbie's pet taxi on the folded down backseat and she could look at us through the space in between the front seats. After the experience we had with the ice and snow in Maryland, we were certain to get a four-wheel drive.
Over six years, we drove that car from Maryland to Monterey, I drove it back from Monterey to Maryland, we drove it from Maryland to Washington State, then from Washington State down to Houston.
I've seen the whole country through that windshield. I-80 through Kansas, through the Mojave desert, over the Snoqualmie Pass in Washington....Abbie loved that car. She would cry to be let out of her taxi and then quietly sit on the armrest or Michelle's lap. She liked to out her paws on the windowsill and watch as we passed cars. If we passed a truck she would jump back and hide her face in Michelle's arms.
Michelle moved back to Baltimore while I still lived in Monterey, in 1995. We were apart for about six months or so. So I hung out with the boys; Michelle's brother, guys from my language class...Bob was one of them, he, Shawn, and me were regulars at the Taco Bell. I drove, because I like to drive and had the big car.
Bob and I drove back to DC/Maryland together, he in his car, me in the Explorer. We bought walkie talkies and freaked out truck drivers by talking in Russian on them. I had just bought And Out Come the Wolves and I played it the whole way. We stopped at my parents' in Katy. We had to go the Southern route because it was November and we didn't want to get stuck in any weather.
When Michelle and I drove across country in the Explorer, it always seemed like there was a "trip song" that we heard on the radio the whole time. Let's see which ones I can remember:
Hey Jealousy by Gin Blossoms
Queen of Memphis by Confederate Railroad
Jonathan Schwartz mentions in his book that when he was a kid making lists was something he did to calm down when got anxious.
OK. I'm not anxious, but here goes. My mother likes keeping track of cars that people have owned. They're milestones in our lives.
Cars I have owned
1. 1970 Ford Fairlane - bought from a co-worker of my father's when I was 15. Had to wait a couple of months to drive it. It had a bench front seat. I guess this is my midlife crisis, because I want that car back. TFAKA Pete, our friend Pete B., and I all had big blue sedans. We would drive past Kara R.'s house in the morning and honk. We called ourselves the Blues Patrol.
2. 1985 Plymouth Turismo - My parents bought me this when I was graduating from high school. I drove it the whole time I went to UT. No one with legs could fit in the back seat. I would have to put the back seat down and people would have to get in through the hatchback. Glen Benavides from Doctors' Mob rode in the car that way one time.
3. 1990 Chevy Lumina - First car Michelle and I bought together. She drove it out to California after I joined the Navy. Her brother went along for the drive. He left the emergency brake on while driving it one time, that earned him the nickname "Smoking Wheels."
We drove it from California to San Angelo when we transfered there. With a U-Haul hooked up behind. The knuckleheads in Monterey who put the trailer hitch in did it with one or two bolts. We stopped in Phoenix to have someone look at it for some reason, they were horrified.
When we passed through New Mexico we ran into the worst rainstorm I've ever seen in my life. Couldn't see five feet. That was bad because two minutes before we were on a mountain surrounded by 18-wheelers. Then I saw some lights which meant that the truck was within five feet. We managed to pull off at a Dairy Queen. I stood under the overhang and struggled to light a cigarette. I struggled to be able to put it in my mouth, my hands were shaking so badly.
We drove it from San Angelo to New Jersey. Lots of snow. Michelle drove it through many an ice storm in Maryland when she was essential personnel.
4. Mercury Grand Marquis - I'm not even sure about that one. Was it a Marquis or a Grand Marquis? I bought it from Javier, the soldier who sat next to me at the basic Russian course at DLI. He was from Houston too. Our class sergeant, Ron, found out that Javier had never had a drink and was turning 21. So we took him to the Tex-Mex place, was it El Torito that was by the water? Anyway, we figured that seeing as he was Hispanic he ought to lose his drinking virginity to tequila.
Wicked people we were. That night ended up with Ron, Javier, and me stuffed by Ron's wife into their hatchback. We sang Beastie Boys songs all the way home. I'm in my car, I'm going far, and Cuervo's what I'm using.
Javier didn't want to charge me anything for the car, he knew it would die any day. Michelle and I insisted on paying him something, so we made him take $200. After Javier gave me the instructions on how to start it, I regretted on the insisting.
You had to turn the key and leave it in place for 2 minutes. Then you could turn it over once. If the car started, you had to let it run, without touching the gas, for at least five minutes. If it didn't start you had to let it sit for a minute, then start again.
I had to get out of the house way early to make sure I could get to the barracks on time. Once the car started it was pretty good. It got me from our apartment in PG to DLI pretty reliably. Going home, not so good, but that wasn't so much of a worry.
It died after three months, blew a rod. A salvage company gave me $50 for it. So $150 for three months' of driving. Not bad.
5. Mazda RX-7
I can't remember what year it was. We bought it in Maryland off of some Chinese guy. His family had a Chinese restaurant and they gave us some free food and me a beer or two after we did the deal there.
When I walked out to the car, he had taken the plates off. He told me this was a normal thing to do, I had no idea, not being from Maryland. So I drove home with beer breath, in a car registered to some guy with a Chinese name, and no plates. I remeember hoping my military ID would help out on any problems.
That was kind of a fun car to drive. Except in the ice. I was essential personnel at the Fort and lived on post. I would pile everything heavy I owned into the truck to try and put some weight on the wheels. With ice, it didn't matter, I don't know why I bothered. I spun out driving 2 miles per hour.
6. 1994 Ford Explorer
Right before the second transfer to Monterey, we traded in the Lumina and the Mazda for the Explorer. That was the second best car we ever got. It was big, roomy, great for a military family on the move. We could put Abbie's pet taxi on the folded down backseat and she could look at us through the space in between the front seats. After the experience we had with the ice and snow in Maryland, we were certain to get a four-wheel drive.
Over six years, we drove that car from Maryland to Monterey, I drove it back from Monterey to Maryland, we drove it from Maryland to Washington State, then from Washington State down to Houston.
I've seen the whole country through that windshield. I-80 through Kansas, through the Mojave desert, over the Snoqualmie Pass in Washington....Abbie loved that car. She would cry to be let out of her taxi and then quietly sit on the armrest or Michelle's lap. She liked to out her paws on the windowsill and watch as we passed cars. If we passed a truck she would jump back and hide her face in Michelle's arms.
Michelle moved back to Baltimore while I still lived in Monterey, in 1995. We were apart for about six months or so. So I hung out with the boys; Michelle's brother, guys from my language class...Bob was one of them, he, Shawn, and me were regulars at the Taco Bell. I drove, because I like to drive and had the big car.
Bob and I drove back to DC/Maryland together, he in his car, me in the Explorer. We bought walkie talkies and freaked out truck drivers by talking in Russian on them. I had just bought And Out Come the Wolves and I played it the whole way. We stopped at my parents' in Katy. We had to go the Southern route because it was November and we didn't want to get stuck in any weather.
When Michelle and I drove across country in the Explorer, it always seemed like there was a "trip song" that we heard on the radio the whole time. Let's see which ones I can remember:
Hey Jealousy by Gin Blossoms
Queen of Memphis by Confederate Railroad
Labels: cars are freedom
posted by Rob Booth, 1/31/2009
4 Comments:
Yeah, I remember the Fairlane. I'd want it back too. That was a great car. My wasn't a sedan, it was the '70 Cutlass coupe with the roof liner falling down and the tape deck that was stowed on the driver's seat cause it wouldn't fit in the dash. Best car ever. Had the Rocket 350 V8.
PeteB
PeteB
My list would be too long, especially if it were to be "cars I have driven (not owned). I wish I had a picture of them all. The best was the one in which I learned to drive at the age of 17 in Nutley(isn't that everyone's favorite?). It was a 1954 Ford 2 door sedan (Fairline?)green on the bottom, white on the top, stick V8. Glenn will remember how cool I was peeling out (by mistake of course) at a toll booth on the Garden State Parkway.
I thoroughly enjoyed your list.Oh yes, the other favorite was the 1968 VW Beetle, dark blue, 4 on the floor. We brought you and then Stacey home from the hospital in it, then got a big old station wagon from Mr. Wafle.I do go on.
Maybe I will make my own list. GGB
I thoroughly enjoyed your list.Oh yes, the other favorite was the 1968 VW Beetle, dark blue, 4 on the floor. We brought you and then Stacey home from the hospital in it, then got a big old station wagon from Mr. Wafle.I do go on.
Maybe I will make my own list. GGB
Oops..must have been a 66 or 67 since you were born in 66. I never was good at math! Anyway, we brought you(with Nana) home from Mountainside Hospital in it, and just ahead of a big snowstorm that kept us inside for a week. GGB
Yeah, cars, whatever...this is strange, because you're one of those people who I no doubt met and potentially even drank and played hoops with back at DLI, yet time has relegated any tangible memories to dust...I was in the LeFox class behind you, and ended up riding boats out of Misawa with Mark and Kevin and other people you doubt knew, and I can't remember how I found this place now, but it's a fine job.
Brian L, Dallas
Brian L, Dallas
