The $100 Question: Tell Leah From A Girl And A Boy About Your First Ride

My first car was a '57 a Chevy Belair two tone green. I was 18 and it was 11. I drove it to beauty school 6 times a week and prayed I'd have enough gas and rubber for the next trip. My FIRST car was a '72 Buick Electra with the big 455 engine out run everything but a gas station. Taught my girls to drive with that car taught them about glass packs and big noise with that car. I couldn't walk out of a store without shewing away guys drooling over the engine. It was like no power I had ever felt before. Still cry about having to give her up, but who can afford to fill a 21 gallon tank 3 times a week? Still wish I had them both right now.

The license plate of my first car had the letters "JLS", so I used to call the car "Julius". It was a white ford escort that I too, ran into the ground.

My first car was a 1985 maroon, fully loaded Toyota Cressida, from my uncle who, in the 14 years he had owned it, barely drove it & kept it in pristine condition. It was the Lexus before there was Lexus, and I swear that car had more options than my car today. Leather seats, sunroof, heated side mirrors...I loved that little car. It went to my sister next, followed, a few years ago, by a classmate of hers who bought it from my parents. Man I miss that car!

My first car was also a red 1989 Corolla! However, mine had 240,000 miles on it already and lasted exactly long enough to blow up during my FINAL finals week of college. Her name was Millie, and even the places that take cars as donations didn't want her after she blew a hole in her engine block, so I sold her for $100 to a sketchy San Diegan mechanic who ended up "forgetting" to transfer the title to his name, so a year later, Millie returned to haunt me in the form of Lexus owner wanting $9K in damages because "I" hit his car.

My first car was a '92 Dodge Shadow ES that my parents had recently paid off when I turned 16. I got it on the condition that I cart around my younger siblings anytime they asked. I remember it being super awesome for the first few years and tipping into sh*tbox shorly therafter. It leaked oil like a sieve and one day kind of blew up when I forgot to give it some oil one week. So sad. I was pretty upset since I had just graduated college and had to beg my parents to spot me for a new ride until I started my first job.

So, my first car was a big ole' brown 73 Plymouth Fury, a 4 door monstrosity that was not in the least pretty, but it was mine and I paid for it. So, I was a proud owner & loved it until I upgraded to the 73 Pontiac Grand Prix, which was a lot more exciting.

It was awful- a little used blue hatchback model..

Amy@Binkytowne@binkytowne
www.binkytowne.com ( http://www.binkytowne.com )

My first car was a 1987 Ford Tempo. Grey with bright red interior. The thing was a BEAST. It took out a street sign head on and still kept on kicking. (Long story, but I wasn't driving, and everyone was fine.) I still giggle whenever I see a Ford Tempo that looks anything like it.

My first car was also a gift from my parents. It was a dark blue, 1994 Honda Accord, and I had it for one month plus one week the day I wrecked it with myself, my brother and my sister inside. I miss that car. I've had other cars, but none of them had the first car feeling.

My first car was a beat up old Toyota Camry that my uncle had worn out before he gave it to me. I got a lot of use out of it, but it failed me at the worst possible time. I was trying to make it to Indiana (for reasons best left undiscussed) in November when the heat stopped working. Then the car itself stopped working by the side of the interstate.

When I say "stopped working", I mean that there was no way anyone was getting that thing to go for an amount of money that wouldn't buy a much better car. It was just worthless.

Fortunately, my parents were behind us in their car, and we were able to get where we were going, but the car did not come with us. I signed the title over to some guy in a coffee shop who swore he could fix it. I doubt he did.

I was mortified to be left in Indiana with no car and no way home. Worst several months of my life, hands down. I don't blame the car, though. I blame my own stupidity for going to that wasteland to begin with...

I had a $400 car as my first, a Dodge Aries that I loved because if I looked at the faux silver-plated make of the car quickly, it almost looked like "Amie's" instead of "Aries." It had no AC, no heat, horrible shocks, a mirror that constantly fell off, and I loved it.

Great question! My first car was a cigarette smelling, old beater I purchased from my neighbor. Yuck, it was truly old and beat up. But, it got me around. For all the negative thoughts I had about that ugly little ride, I loved (and still do) that it was a manual. Nothing like driving stick to make you feel in power and control in the world.

Join me at www.rosiegirldreams.com ( http://www.rosiegirldreams.com ), where I share my approach to frugal, simple and green family living.

Mine was a Mitsubishi Minica -avocado green in color-cramped and cute and I love it even if my sister-in-law said--why did you get that junk?

I'm still driving my first car. A 1992 Burgandy Honda Civic Sedan. It's a love/hate relationship. I love it because it was the car I grew up in riding with my Dad. It was free, given to me by my Dad at 16 since he got a new car then. It's always run pretty well with not many major problems (until it started reaching it's old age...). It still gets great gas millage. How old is it? 18 years...almost as old I am. I'm grateful to have a running (free) car but...

I had to learn how to drive a stick shift to drive it and now h-a-t-e traffic jams because my legs get tired with all the clutch work. I hate it because the freakin' Air Conditioner broke last summer and I am literally trying not to melt/pass out each time I drive now (especially while pregnant!). The speedometer broke so I have to use a GPS to know how fast I'm going. If it sits for more than a few days it wont start. The automatic doors don't work anymore. It doesn't have a latch system for my daughter's carseat.

It's time for a new car, no? Especially before the heat of summer really hits.

Leah

http://omommawrites.com

My first car was a light blue 1990 Dodge Spirit. It was my mom's car, and she eventually gave it to me when she got another car.

I learned a lot about cars, piece by piece, as each part of my car slowly needed replacing over the years.

Christina A Mommy Story ( http://amommystory.blogspot.com )

My first car was a blue Mercury Tracer with four doors. Not much to look at, but I had such fun with it and was able to fit several friends into it to run around!

Mandy W.

FourAgainstTwo.com

Her name was Vanessa and she was an 1982 Ford Escort, and my first car. I don't know how many times I got her stuck, ran her out of gas or how many memories made in that car, but I would take her back in a minute if I could today.

This was fun. Sis

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Her name was Vanessa and she was an 1982 Ford Escort, and my first car. I don't know how many times I got her stuck, ran out of gas or how many memories made in that car, but I would take her back in a minutes if I could today.

This was fun. Sis

Get some simple living ideas at http://www.reclaimsimplicity.com/

I saved $855 dollars in four years on a paper route. The 1967 Mustang fit perfectly in our Ford family. We had to rebuild the engine, so it sat in my parents driveway my entire senior year of high school.
During the summer of "78, my dad and I rebuilt the engine. My girlfriends and I loved driving it around once it was fixed. The radio didn't work, so we would pretend to turn it on, and then take turns singing of we'd all sing together - it was so much fun back then.
I eventually sold "Pony" to a friend for $1250 and felt that I'd really made a killing on that. When he got rear-ended, his insurance paid him $2250. I'm still sick about that. :-( Over 30 years later, the mustang remains the best car I ever had. Lots of good times with friends and memories too...

1989 Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera. Burgundy. Super sexy. Except not really.

Jenna Hatfield (@FireMom ( http://twitter.com/FireMom )), from Stop, Drop and Blog ( http://stopdropandblog.com ) and The Chronicles of Munchkin Land ( http://thechroniclesofmunchkinland.com ), is a freelance writer and newspaper photographer.

Red Honda prelude, Lil Red, was my first very own car. I bought it, some with my money and some from grandma. i drove it for 10 years, even in Alaska, and loved it! i still kinda miss on sunny days, top down, stereo blasting...

Wendy Wallace writes at Let the dog in! ( http://letthedogin.com ) and the Kitsap Sun's Mom Squad ( http://pugetsoundblogs.com/mom-squad ).  

My parents wanted me safe more than they wanted me to be cool--they got me a 7 year old Volvo. It was comfortable, had AC and a sunroof, and was already kind of beat up so I didn't have to take the blame for any dings. I loved it!

Elizabeth

www.hernewdeal.com ( http://www.hernewdeal.com )

My very first car was received in 1998, and it was a 1989 Honda Civic Wagovan. Meaning, a 4 door hatchback. Those years looked like big boxes on wheels!! Even though my mom gave it to me as a Christmas present, somehow I still got conned into paying her $50 a month for the damn car!

The first car I thought I owned was a hand-me-down 1984 tan Toyota Tercel that I got to drive when I was a senior in high school when my dad finally bought a new car (1991). However, I found out later, when my brother turned 16 and I left for college, that it was going to be a "family" car and it was "repossessed" from me, so to speak. Boo!

The first car I bought for myself was a black 1998 Honda Civic ... brand spankin' new. I would probably still have that car if it hadn't been so hard to get a baby into the back of a 2-door car! I loved it!

Kristen M.

We Be Reading - http://webereading.com ( http://webereading.blogspot.com/ )

It was totally a granny car. A big 'ol boat called a Mercury Sable. It was relatively new and it drove well, but it still floated along like a white pontoon boat.

One of the many things that makes me a freak of nature is the fact that, at 44, I owned a car once for a year and that is the full extent of my car-owning life. This is because I live in NYC - and the year I spent living in FL was that one year I owned a car. I did like it, my one and only "ride" - it was a 1985 old-school Mercedes diesel sedan and it was so huge and heavy that I felt like I was driving a mini-tank, which I always found slightly reassuring! However, I don't really miss it or car ownership in general, I must say.

Yes, I said orange. When I was going to college my brother gave me his car. It was the early seventies and my car was bright orange, a square back Volkswagen. I don't really remember the year of the vehicle but those cars all looked the same every year. I think I got the car in 1974, of course used. I had a yellow lab, Mara, that was a great dog, but as a puppy she chewed on the front seat head rest area. So, in my infinite wisdom and good taste I bought bright orange and yellow flowered contact paper to cover the front seats. What a classy mobile! I remember my funky looking orange car fondly over these many years! It finally died and I took it to my parents farm to rest in peace. It remained there until the early part of this century when some guy offered to take all of the old vehicles off my dad's property for the scrap metal. I figured it served a useful home for many rodents over the years.

My first car was a used bright red Geo Metro. It had no air conditioning and its speakers were lousy so I grabbed my friend and he helped me put in bass speakers that were killer. They took up the entire trunk (mind you, it was a Metro so the truck wasn't all that big).

In addition to being awesome for those reasons, I decided it wasn't quite cool enough and had a black leather custom car "bra" made for it. When I told the automotive guy what type of car I wanted to order it for, he looked at me like I had three heads and tried to contain his laughter. But when the "bra" went on the metro, it was hot, totally (mostly because it still didn't have air conditioning).

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sandy vincent

My first car was a 66 pontiac lemans - I drove it as a teenager (it was my parents' car) and they gave it to me when I got married. I sure wish I had that car now..

I loved my 2 door red dodge shadow with tinted windows. I got it when I was 16 1/2. I had to learn how to drive stick shift and I'm glad I know how.

I was sad to sell the car when I finished college but I was moving and I couldn't take it with me.

Janna - Can also be found at The Adventure of Motherhood ( http://theadventureofmotherhood.blogspot.com ).

I loved my 2 door red dodge shadow with tinted windows. I got it when I was 16 1/2. I had to learn how to drive stick shift and I'm glad I know how.

I was sad to sell the car when I finished college but I was moving and I couldn't take it with me.

Janna - Can also be found at The Adventure of Motherhood ( http://theadventureofmotherhood.blogspot.com ).

My first car was a Blue Chevy Cavalier. I learned to drive when I turned 33 and I think I paid $600 for the car. It was small and easy to manuever. I remember driving the car with such a feeling of accomplishment, knowing that I no longer had to depend on my friends and neighbors to do simple things like driving to the store or taking the kids to the pediatrician.

I had the Cavalier for a short time before the manifold blew on it. It was very sad to drive it to the junk yard, but I knew that as I gave the car up that the world was full of possibilities.

Before I had kids. Parents gave me their old minivan when I first needed car around age 20. So not a cool ride, but who cares - free and could hold A LOT of people.

My first car was a 1996 Nissan Sentra that my mom drove, then my older sister drove, then I drove, then my younger brother drove. My sister named it Glimmer.

I inherited a 1990 Hyundai Excel from my older brother. For a first car, it was in good shape because my brother bought it new and took really good care of it. I only had it for 2 years because it didn't have A/C. Otherwise, it was a decent 1st car.

My first car was a 1966 Mustang, Baby Blue with a 289. Very cool car! I loved that car and I wish that I still owned it.

my first car was a blue oldsmobile '94. i am a very petite person, so this car was so huge i had to get a pillow to be able to see the road!

My first car was a 1985 Chevy Cavalier. It was gold and had the boxy look that was popular back then.

My best friend started calling it "colonel" one day, and I was so flattered. "Why are you calling it 'Colonel,' because it's so impressive and commanding?" I asked her.

"No, because it reminds me of a popcorn kernel."

Whoops. It remained "Kernel" for the rest of the time I drove it. Man, I loved that car.

My first car was a 1988 ruby red Buick Regal coupe I bought in 1994. It had a burgundy leather interior (that had the hottest seats ever if in the sun) complete with a burgundy plastic dashboard and worst of all it had a very small 2.8 liter 135 hp engine so it had difficulty merging into traffic on the highway!

I didn't care. It was my first car and I drove it to and from college and for many years after. I loved the body style.

I really didn't want a red car that would attract attention of any kind, but when the dealer got it in and called me knowing I wanted a Regal Coupe and it was only $6000 with 42,000 miles on it. I took it because it was a good deal.

The funnier part is that in 5 years I bought a later year model of the same car in red again! Because that was what was available at the right price and it thankfully had a grey velour interior.

My first car was a used black Mustang that my mom got for me. It was pretty beat up, but after the dealership washed and waxed it I got excited. My first day out in it I started up the car and immediately got nervous because the engine heat indicator was way low... I called my mom to make sure this was okay. (She reassured me that because it was the dead of winter, it's normal for the engine to be cold... duh.)
So I cruised out to go visit some friends, and just as I was about to exit my neighborhood, the engine started sputtering and basically died in the middle of the road. Needless to say, THAT car got sent back to the dealership and we got a full refund. I ended up with a much less cool but a much longer-lasting Toyota Corolla that was ugly but got good mileage and never died in the middle of the road.

with a hand-crank sunroof and an 8 track player, which I even had tapes for. I miss that car!

First car (still own it) 2002 Nissan Altima V6- emerald green....my baby, my love- AMAZING how transportation affects your independence!

Maroon's Caucus|Transforming resources into fuel.

My first car was a 1989 Pontiac GrandAm, and the driver side window would not roll down, so going through a drive thru meant opening the door:) There were lots of laughs in that car!!

http://www.thesilvas.blogspot.com/

 Megan Silva

Was a Plymouth Colt given to me for my 17th birthday so my parents wouldn't have to drive me to ice skating practice and wouldn't have to lend me their cars. The thing would Stall out when driven through large puddles so I had to carry a can of WD40 to spray down the engine when it rained a lot. My other 5ft tall friend and I would make our tall friends ride in the back. We would tool around high school with the theme to Inspector Gadget playing at top volume just laughing. I graduated high school on my 18th birthday. Being completely grown (obviously) I told my mother she did not have to pick me up after our all night Sr. party. After dropping three friends off at their houses I fell asleep behind the wheel and totaled the Little Red Mobile. Thankfully, I was completely fine.

My first car was given to my by my Grandma. It was a 57 Chevy Malibu and the boys all liked it 'cause it was hot looking and had a 327 engine in it - although I had no idea what that meant! It was a great car until someone decided to crash into me.

Oh, my first car was a Ford Fairmont (1981, I believe-the year of the car, not when I got it) She was blue and lovingly called "Bertha" by all my friends!! Leather seats even....very fancy. My parents bought me the car. It was $500! I loved it because it was MINE! I didn't need a fancy car. It was perfect for hauling around my fellow cheerleading pals! And I sold her when I moved out of state....it was a sad day, for sure. :(

When I was fifteen, my sixteen-year-old sister and I made a pact to save up for a car that we could share. That was a helluva lot of babysitting gigs! The $600 dollars we made went toward the best used car my dad could find: a ten-year-old Dodge Dart.

I think we killed it within six months. It took us another half-year to pay for our second set of shared wheels: again, $600 -- for an 11-year-old Dodge Dart (!!!)

That one lasted a while...

In fact, I sold it to a guy friend some six years later. Told him to pay me whenever he could, because it certainly wasn't worth the $400 price tag I set.

We lost touch. In the meantime, he became a nationally-syndicated DJ -- and three years later, he tracked me down to pay me the $400 he owed me for that old car.

Now, that's what I call trustworthy!

Josie Brown

www.josiebrown.com ( http://www.josiebrown.com )
www.authorprovocateur.com ( http://www.authorprovocateur.com )
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My first car (and only car, I'm still driving it!) is a 98 Subaru Legacy Sedan. Grey. My dad bought it for me when I was around 20 years old. I'm going to drive it forever.

Sonja

The Mud and the Lotus ( http://www.mudandlotus.com )

My first car was a 1990 Mercury Topaz. It got me through college and my first journalism job. It died the day I purchased my new car on my way back from a major breaking news story. Talk about karma.

My first car was my dad's beat up Chevy truck. Lovely brown and tan stripes, but it was mine, all mine. Until he needed it, of course. I could cram at least 8 of my friends in the front of that thing, and I remember only having $3 for gas once, but back then, that lasted for hours of "dragging Main Street". Good times in that old clunker.

http://www.unexpectedbliss.com