Do You Remember Your First Car?

This is a series of e-mails about our first car or lack of car:

Rita B Says:

This gives me the opportunity to wax nostalgic about my first car --- a '53 Chevy sedan. A really "hot" car painted two tones of unmentionable brown! I bought it for $300 from a neighbor who let me pay by the week until the "Brown Bomb" was all mine. By today's standards it was a classic P.O.S. The furthest thing from a "guy magnet" I could get. The floor was so rusted that I could see the road rushing past when I drove. I had to be careful where I stepped, but the freedom that car gave me was worth all its ugliness. At least I knew my friends loved me and not my car. Sometimes I could only afford 25 cents in gasoline, which, back then, was enough for many trips around town. No one today would drive a car like that old Chevrolet! (I probably win for in this group for having the worst car in high school.)

Gary R Says:

A 1946 Cadillac Fleetwood 4 door. Huge V-8 engine with a sloppy and primitive transmission. It had a power radio antenna, three heaters, and four cigar lighters. It was painted battleship grey (appropriately so) and ran great. No rust and no dents. The interior was tan mohair and painted-on wood grain on the dash and window trims. The chrome grille and molding were like new. My second car was a 1956 Buick Roadmaster (also a 4 door and loaded) and it too was in "like new" condition. I never cared for "mainstream" cars like '57 Chevys, etc. The Roadmaster is still my favorite car.

Dan C Says:

Lucky you.

I walked, hitch-hiked, and rode the bus back and forth to school* ..... Well, mostly the bus to school.... Good ole Mason Creek bus line or I walked to Granby Street from Atwood & Orange and caught a direct bus. Getting back home after track was usually via hitch-hiking.... But those were the good old safe days for hitch-hiking.

I got my first car the year I got out of the Army. It was used, but it was a blue Mustang. I was 21 year-old by then. Seems to me I could fill it up with gas for around four bucks!!!

*I hope everyone held back their tears at this point.

Gary R Continues:

My Cadillac was a real "boat." Jimmy Thornton, Charlie McCracken, James, Lombard (NCHS), and some other OV'ers used to ride to school with me. JT painted the name "Bull of the Pampas" on the rear trunk lid. It had an early (and troublesome) automatic transmission that shifted about a hundred times and a huge flathead V8 engine that ran super quiet and smooth. It was in excellent condition, shiny chrome and rust/dent free body. We played in the city league football and rode in the "Bull" together to games. It could transport the entire defensive line and a couple of linebackers as well. It held exactly $7 worth of gas (high test) and consumed it at a rate of about 12 mph. Top speed: over 70 mph. 1/4 mile speed: (unknown, the '46 caddy Fleetwood was not measured with a stopwatch at the 1/4 mile. A colander was normally used.) I left it parked on a vacant lot next to CC Whites house at 4th View and W.O.V. Avenue across from Little's Dugout (currently known as the Thirsty Camel) when I went off to Navy boot camp in 1964. When I returned home there was Champs Burger there and my caddy was nowhere to be found. I got over it within a few days, but now I wish I had pursued it. I would really like to have that car today.

Ajia S Says:

Car in high school!! Wasn't even an option for me. Boy, was I sheltered. I was lucky enough to drive my parent's old Plymouth station wagon when I was working at Norfolk General Hospital. That didn't last too long as some attorney rear-ended me, wasn't looking when I stopped at a light on Hampton Blvd. and totaled the car. If I had not jumped out of the car and said I was fine, I probably could have been driving anything I wanted after that but noooooooo, I had to say I was just fine. I have always liked sporty cars. After my kids were grown, and I got rid of the red chevy station wagon (looked like a fire engine), I went right for the Corvette first, then the 300ZX, to the Jaguar XJS, to the Mercedes SL convertible. Gave it all up for comfort. I would say I was getting smart (or sensible) if it wasn't for buying the Harley-Davidson. I now drive an Envoy and enjoy having the room to pick up anything I want (obviously that doesn't include men!). I suppose that is what happens when you go without as a kid. You go crazy when you grown up.

Linda B Says:

Dan, I'm with you..... I walked or rode the bus....The Mason Creek line. I lived on Mason Creek (before that on Government Avenue across from the school). I can remember many times running to get the Mason Creek bus at the old sub station at the end of Granby. If you were not fast enough, you were left! My first car was a black Ford --- I married the man who owned it!! A few years ago we helped our son buy his first car, a Mustang. Before we signed the papers the salesman said he had to tell us that they had done some repairs on it ...... Bullet holes in the doors!!!

Brad W remembers

My first car was a 1953 Ford customline convertible. It was white with a black top. Had a flathead V-8 and 3-speed on the column. An AM radio was all it had in those days...... Dick Lamb on WGH ..... Sock hops at the old ice rink behind the Coke Plant on Monticello, cruising Big Burroughs at the Granby Street Bridge and the "little" Burroughs at Wards Corner, looking for races...... Oh yeah, those were the days!

Rita inserts

See, Ajia, we should have stuck with Brad. I'll bet he would have taken us to the Burroughs at Wards Corner!