Friday, July 18, 2008

Remember when driving was FUN?

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I bought my first car in 1994 at the age of 16. It cost $700 of my hard earned tip money from my waitressing job at Denny's. (Trust me, I had to serve a LOT of Grand Slams to save $700. Remember the commercials? "$1.99 are you out of your mind?!?")

It was a 1981 Plymouth Horizon. Baby blue.


It had only AM radio, and the paint was so oxidized that it left a powdery residue on your fingers when you touched it.

But I was cool.

I was the first of my friends to have my own car, so hatchback or no, we took that lil' baby everywhere. I was lucky enough that the local rock station still broadcast in AM at that time.

And it was somehow cooler that part of the Plymouth emblem had broken off the hood. It read "MOUTH".

I've had my share of crappy cars - each of which I thought were very cool when I bought them.



I'm happy to say that the coolest of them all is the '99 Chevy Blazer I drive now.


No, mine doesn't have flags on the windows.
I'm just too lazy to go outside and take my own picture.

Its not new, but with the exceptions of the two car seats in the back its not a "Mommy Car", either.

Nope - I got me some tinted windows, leather seats (heated to keep my tushy warm in these cold Wisconsin winters!), a 6-disc CD changer and a sun roof. Dood. Can you hear the tunes coming from my iPod?

Ah, now only if we could bring back to when gas at $1 a gallon!

Join me every week for Flashbacks on Friday!


8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh 1 dollar gas! That brings back memories!

Kelsey
mysweetlife.org

Irish Mom said...

I remeber going to the FULL service & asking for $3 worth of gas... oh the memories!! Those were the good 'ol days!!
Thanks for stopping by my blog!!

jane said...

You brought back two important memories for me.

(1) Going back 14 years to my first car, a '79 Sigma whom I named Sophie.
She always started, all I had to do was say please and kiss the steering wheel (I kid you not).

(2) The first time I became aware of prices back in the '70s (not sure how many years ago but over 20), and the petrol bowser read "0.22c" per litre.
Amazing, when it's now $1.70+ per litre here in Sydney.

Kristen said...

I was the queen of crappy cars.

Now I'm the queen of mom cars.

Darla said...

I had a mommy car. A van *gasp*. ONE. Then we immediately went to a Tahoe and now a Denali.

Vans do ride nicer. Just sayin....

Mama Smurf said...

LOL...now THAT's a true flashback!

I swear to you, Colleen, I WILL get back on this FF wagon but it's becoming increasingly difficult through these summer months to keep up with the kids, extracurriculars, house, running, summer activities, AND blogging. I may have to wait till School starts up again but I WILL be back!

Abbreviated said...

I remember when gas went over 1.00$ is was 1991.

Unknown said...

While I do drive a minivan, it's better than I thought. And I do have the leather seats and seat heaters and automatic everything. I don't feel frumpy driving it, which really surprised me! Maybe my standards have slipped?