have a car memory you'd like to share ?

[dancingleaf]

EDIT TO ADD: The following are just meant to inspire stories... please don't feel you need to answer ALL of them. Unless you want to... in which case... feel free!

my first car
my favourite car
my first or worst accident
fatalities
a long road trip
a family association
cops/tickets
drive in movies
drive up restaurants,
drive through
price of gas ($.25 a gallon anyone?)
price of cars
buying a car
breakdowns
changing a tire (being late for your wedding because you had a flat tire?)
bad weather
romance
restoration project

don't drive?
-bicycle, bus, train or plane?
-friend's car?
-experiences hitch-hiking?

if you can - please include the year and make of the vehicle and the year of the event.

Or... if you have some other transportation memory you'd like to share....

be warned - particularly excellent stories may make it into my paper/presentation

Comments

Mr. O First....

[naomi-sue.livejournal.com]

I took Mr. O down memory lane first. Mine will follow. :)


my first car --- '54 Oldsmobile, Delta 88 ( I drove my mother's car)
my favourite car --- '71 Monte Carlo, black on black, bucket seats!!
my first or worst accident --- 54'Olds, Slid into a guard rail on an entry ramp, '60 - no one hurt other than my butt and my pride.
fatalities - None
a long road trip --- '68 Dodge Charger, west from Ohio to the CA coast, toured the mountain states and then returned home. Roughly 5000 miles.
a family association --- ? GM cars are prodominent.
cops/tickets --- I've had roughly 15 in the course of 45 years, mostly for speeding violations
drive in movies --- '54 Olds, back row, back seat...need he say more?
drive up restaurants, --- The Parkmore, '54 Olds, girls on roller skates were HOT!
drive through --- none memorable
price of gas ($.25 a gallon anyone?)--- .18 cents a gallon, in OK driving a '68 Dodge Charger, in 1969
price of cars --- $3200 in '68. It was bought brand new.
buying a car --- Haggling over $50.00 for the '68 Charger
breakdowns --- '98, the '71 Vette broke down in route to dinner. No dinner car towed.
changing a tire (being late for your wedding because you had a flat tire?) --- Interstate 75 into Cincy on Memorial Day Weekend, traffic was insane, the winds from the traffic nearly blew the car off the jack. A '73 Capri
bad weather --- Returning from Chicago in sleet and snow on State Routes. I had to urinate on the headlights so that I could see to drive. (You many not want to use that. LOL!!) '71 Monte Carlo
romance --- They are all memorable, pick a year, make and model. LOL!!
restoration project --- '71 Corvette, it's still very memorable...and a work in something... Mr. O says progress, I tend to disagree.

Hope that helps!!

don't drive?
-bicycle, bus, train or plane?
-friend's car?
-experiences hitch-hiking?

[naomi-sue.livejournal.com]

my first car --- 71 Chevy Chevelle. 396, olive green, leather interior...and fast!!

my favourite car --- '91 Ford Tempo, only because it was the first car I ever bought for myself.

my first or worst accident --- Coming home from a b'day party of a co-workers, in '82. I was driving an older model T-Bird (don't recall the year as it was not mine) and 'killed the bird to save a dog'.

fatalities --- None

a long road trip---I took my children on a three week vactaion to tour the areas I had grown up in. Think of the Brady Bunch. 1987 was the year and we were traveling in an '80 Ford station wagon.

a family association--- ?

cops/tickets ----Getting pulled over on a very rainy morning where as I was going 30 in a 35MPH zone but ticketed for going too fast for road conditions. The ticket was dismissed. '91 Ford Tempo

drive in movies --- '68 Rambler at the Skyborn. Lot's of action, better forgotten. :)

drive up restaurants, --- A&W, home of the Momma, Poppa, Teen and Baby bear burgers, not to mention Rootbeer. '63 Ford Fairlane.

drive through --- None memorable

price of gas ($.25 a gallon anyone?)--- 1975, gas was .21 per gallon as there were price wars everywhere. We drove a '69 Renault with 'five on the column' at that time. That car got over 30 miles to the gallon!! I learned to drive on a stick shift, not an automatic. This was my first real car, though not owned by me, rather my soon to be father of my children.

price of cars --- Depends on what you are looking for and the year. I've been party to buying cars anywhere from $50 to $40,000. Most memorable of them all has got to be the 2000 Chevy Suburban. That vehicle has put me through hell and we paid the most for it. It took five years to get it to work right and now it's not worth the money paid.

buying a car --- Getting the '91 Ford Tempo.

breakdowns --- '71 Chevelle. Not really a breakdown, but a loss of keys. They were lost when our canoe capsized and we had to wait for someone to rekey the locks on the car.

changing a tire (being late for your wedding because you had a flat tire?) --- 1988, coming home from an excursion with a gal friend of mine. The front right tire blew on the '80 wagon, in hundred degree temps on a hill no less. A trucker helped to get it changed out.

bad weather --- Blizzard of '78, driving a '64 Ford Thunderbird. This car started when no other would. The battery did a whole lot of jumping for other cars sitting stranded.

romance --- 1975, unknown to both myself and the father of my children we 'parked' off a road that seemed to be unhabitated. Little did we know that the '68 Rambler with it's engine roaring was sitting atop the first underground home to be built in the area. That was embarassing as all get out. I'll never forget the rap on the window by the deputy asking us to please get off these people's roof top.

restoration project --- '71 Corvette, which sits in the garage yet today...after more than ten years.

[ishtara.livejournal.com]

My first car that I drove was my parents' 1986 Chev. (can't remember the make, but it was small.) They also had a 1980 that was a boat. I hated driving it because as a new driver, I had a hard time discerning where the sides and front and back end were at all times. Yet, when they went away, they took the newer car, so I had to drive the bigger one. I was usually under strict intructions only to drive it locally and for important things (like picking up my younger brother at activities.)

My first car that I owed was a 1994 Chev Cavalier. It was a beautiful metallic turquoise blue. I called her Aimee. I think it cost me 15,000.

My first accident was in 1989 (I think). I was driving my parents' car and it was raining. I couldn't stop in time at a light and hit the car in front. I did $35 damage to my parents' car. There is a tiny piece of plastic in the side of the headlight that cost $35 to replace.

Since then, I've been hit twice - both the other drivers' faults (in 1997or8 and in 2004). My husband totalled our last car in 2005 when a jaywalking deer stood in the middle of the highway. The deer was a fatality. My husband wasn't hurt.

I endured too many long road trips as a kid. (Ottawa to Vancouver and back again. Ottawa to Florida and back.) The longest I've been on as an adult is the 10 hour driver to southern Pennsylvia. Now that I have children of my own, that trip seems even longer.

Can't think of the rest right now.