My first car. Well, no, my entire automotive history. What stands out in yours?

judit on Wednesday, April 5, 2017 – 01:23 am

Forums:

Other Stuff

I got my first car in 1966 when I graduated from high school. I had never driven a stick before, but the day after I got the car I left Laurel Canyon where I grew up and drove to the Bay Area where all my friends lived. I figured if I could make it to the freeway, 101, and drove, I’d have very little reason to shift, only when I needed to get gas. It was a gray 1959 Peugeot 403. If you slid the front seats all the way forward, the seatbacks could be flat back to meet the back seat making a very comfortable bed. It had a sunroof and a very roomy trunk. All of that was good because I spent the summer of 1966 living in the car.

I moved to Berkeley from Los Angeles in Spring of 1968. The car was great and even fixed itself one time when it stopped working. It just wouldn’t go. I parked it for a month or so and, IT WORKED! I loved that car.

I lived near Eureka from 1969 til 1974. The Peugeot began to need work and I couldn’t find anyone to work on it. A friend had a double-cab VW pickup that he wanted to trade for the Peugeot. That worked out very well for me because I opened an “antiques” store in Eureka in ‘71 and needed something to haul furniture and other things around in. The VW pickup was rusted to daylight at the junction of the doors and the floor and I had to drive with a sleeping bag covering my feet and legs when I went to Montana in October.

We also had a ‘67 International Scout, but it wasn’t as easy to load. After we moved to Eugene in 1974 the Scout was adequate, especially because it’s so easy to get around on bikes.

Big excitement in 1976. We bought a NEW CAR and moved into a small but wonderful house. A 1976 Rabbit! When the first Mr. Judit and I split up in 1977, he got the car and I got to stay in the house. I didn’t have a car again until 1982 – it really is a great place for biking. I bought the house in 1979 for $39,000.

In 1982 I finally got a car, a 1962 Mercury Comet Custom Classis wagon, classified as a compact car but it was quite big. Gorgeous black and white interior, dull cream-colored exterior. It was like a tank and I drove it until 1992, when I got a wonderful 1982 Toyota Corolla wagon. Brown. I loved that car. Reliable, fun to drive, excellent.

When I found the Corolla it was at a dealer’s. It was priced at $4800, way too high. So I asked the salesman “What would happen if I offered you $3300? “ We then went back-and-forth, lowering the price. He asks, “How ‘bout $3200?”, me, “$3100?”. and so it went til I offered him $2800 and he accepted. That was a fair price for a great car. The car started leaking into the passenger floor in 2003 and was stolen late that year. I got it back, but it never drove the same and the amount of water sloshing around and mold were gross.

I bought my present car, a 2004 Subaru Legacy wagon BRAND NEW, in 2004. It’s a very good car and I like driving it. Drove to Portland yesterday and it was easy.

That’s my entire automotive history, except the car I learned to drive in was an early ‘60s red Galaxie 500XL convertible. My dad loved convertibles, but he never put the tops up, whether it was raining or not. He drove in rain in a poncho. Sweet and funny guy.

Main menu

Show:

Info:

Utilities:

My first car. Well, no, my entire automotive history. What stands out in yours?

Forums: