What was your first car, and do you have any stories about it?
Mine was a 1988 Dodge Shadow 2-door hatchback. It was black with a red interior. Bought it from a private party who really wanted to sell it – it was a beater, but for a first car, it was fine. Here are some highlights from its life:
- Air conditioning never worked, but I got a CD player – which shows you where my priorities were. The CD player, sadly, was installed crappily (Best Buy!) – it scratched every disc it played and skipped when going over bumps.
- The first day I drove it, I actually made a short night trip. Without my headlights on. I didn’t know how to turn them on, and I wondered if driving at night was always going to be so dark.
- The first day I drove it to high school, I was hit by an SUV.
- When going over railroad tracks, the rearview mirror would occasionally pop off.
- While driving around Chicago’s suburbs one day I noticed that there appeared to be a little bit of smoke coming from the engine. I didn’t think too much of it until the temperature gauge started going crazy. As it turns out, the engine head cracked (oooof) and my parents came to get me; they followed me all the way home (about 15 miles) while stopping every so often to put coolant in the radiator.
Do I miss it? No, not really. The first car I really loved was my second car, but that’s another Ping.
Posted in Cars