Thursday Thirteen: vehicles

[jmc_bks]

Thirteen Things about JMC
13 Cars or Trucks

1. Old Grey. This was a huge old truck, could've been a GM truck or a Ford, I'm not sure. Its body was patchy grey primer and white. You could see the ground in spots when you looked down at the floor boards. It was The Boy Uncle's, and we would all pile in and go down to the river to swim. He drove it while saving to buy...

2. The White T-top Sting-Ray, '71 or '72 I think. I loved profiling in this car. I felt like such a cool, cool adult, cruising around the neighborhood in it with The Boy Uncle...even though I was all of 12. :sigh: He sold it a few years after he bought it, using the proceeds to buy the land his house was on, a Very Good Investment. But he always missed it, and now he has a slightly later model cherry red 'Vette to cruise in. Yeah, his 16 year old son is dying to drive it but that is verbotten.

3. The Red & Blue '64 Mustangs. Okay, two sisters I went to high school with each received a '64 Mustang for their 16th birthdays. Red and blue. :sigh: We rode the same bus, and the cars sat in the drive way, beautiful and tempting, until they each turned 16. I was *so* envious.

4. My first car: an '80 Chevette. Our little putput car, it was like a golf cart almost: poor little thing maxed out at ~50mph, and was basically good for driving to work and to school. The Biochemist and I shared it til the unfortunate accident. Fortunately no one was seriously hurt.

5. The '81 T-Bird. A V-6 gas guzzler. I loved this car, despite the problems I had with the heating system. It drove incredibly smoothly, had amazing pick up and a hee-uge backseat. The leather seats would burn the fillets of an unwary driver though, so I always had a cloth seat cover.

6. R's red Thunderbird. It wasn't new when he got it and he modified it out of recognition almost. Sound system. Security system. Engine. You could sit in the back seat and feel the base thump. By the time he got rid of it, I think everything had been modified and the only original part left was the chassis itself.

7. 92 Dodge Shadow. I inherited this after the T-Bird died. Called The Lady Bug. Looking at pictures of this car, it seems like an average car. But it was shiny and red, and I swear I got hit on at more gas stations while driving this car than I ever had before or have since. I would've driven it til it died...except it was hit by a drunk driver and totalled. Resulting in the purchase of...

8. The Figgymobile. Don't ask -- my mom named it and the name stuck. :shrug: It's a 99 Plymouth sedan. Sedate, average, sturdy, servicable. It was stolen and wrecked when I had owned it for less than two years, but the insurance company wouldn't total it (if they had realized the extent of the damage up front, they probably would've -- it would've been cheaper to pay the rest of the note off than for all of the repairs). I suppose it is a testament to the dealer's service department and body shop that I've never had a problem with it since (other than routine stuff) despite the extensive repairs. I'm sure to observers this car suits me...but it isn't my dream car and it doesn't suit my internal, adventurous self, which lusts for a Shelby GT500.

9. Red & White GMC cab and a half. It's Poppop's truck. He's been gone for four years and my cousin drives it now, but this is Poppop's truck, and I always expect to see him sitting there with his arm propped on the window.

10. Champagne/gold Caprice Classic. Mommom doesn't drive anymore, because it requires reflexes and concentration that she doesn't have. She still has her license, though, and a car. It makes her feel independent. When I was a kid, she always had a sedan of some kind. Had to be big enough to fit her and Poppop and a variety of grandbabies. And it tended to be a GMC car of some kind, since Poppop worked for a subsidiary of GM.

11. The Biochemist's Jeep Cherokee, called Snowflake in part 'cause it's white and in part 'cause it was "born" and lived in less temperate climes before relocating to Texas. It's a vehicle that suits The Biochemist, I think: adventurous, streamlined, spare.

12. M's S2000. It's just a cute car, fun to ride around in with the top down.

13. This last isn't a car that I've driven, but possibly the next one I'll buy....at some point in the distant future, I hope, since my car is running well still. The Volvo C30. Or maybe a VW Passat -- the Rabbit is cute but the mileage is surprisingly sucky; the Touareg looks cool, but I don't need an SUV.

You may have noticed that there aren't many foreign cars on the list above. Historically, my family has been employed by GM and Chrysler, resulting in significant discounts and consumer loyalty.

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Comments

[dogzzz2002.livejournal.com]

Wow. I started to think about vehicles and realized my comment would be as long as your post!

We had an 80 T-bird and I think I will forever be a T-bird girl ;) At the same time we had a GM Cutlass Sierra with a Tbar roof - I started to call it tank at the end of it's life as it made the worst noise and people would turn around to see what the hell was coming up behind them. Then there was the purple (and I mean purple) Toyota Celica manual trans - the memories of that car alone because my mom couldn't drive a stick but there were a few times she would throw us in the car - I'm surprised we survived.

Then all I know is that Bob had a few mustangs (I think '67 fastbacks) when he was a teen and he has always regretted selling them. Such is the way of cars though I think ;) I know he yearns for a Shelby also.

CindyS

[jmc-bks.livejournal.com]

Manual transmissions. :sigh: I've been given a driving lesson for them twice, but I'm lazy: alway drive automatic transmissions.