On My First Car

I've only had four my entire life, and selling my second one this week has got me reminiscing about my very first one...




Do you remember your first car?

My grandmother helped me buy my very first one. I was in graduate school at Emerson College in Boston, MA, and I needed to drive back and forth, on the weekend, between our home in Windsor, CT, and it was no longer okay to borrow my mom's car at the time...a two door, bright red, Chevy Cavalier. I had already used her car too many times, and I had already bent the right front rim after taking a really wide turn while driving one day.  Wow.  I still remember the sound of metal and concrete colliding.  It was really loud! I thought the damage would be worse. It was time to get my own car.

So. With the help of Mama, the name our whole family affectionately calls my maternal grandmother, we were able to purchase my very first car.  It was an old grey Dodge Colt. I can't remember what year it was, but I do remember it was old. I'll tell you why in a minute.  There's nothing like having your very own car...no matter how old it is, right?  I remember the first day I drove home in it. I felt like a grown up for the first time. I had gotten my first taste of freedom by having my very own ride.

So my car was old. Not like a jalopy old. But still old nonetheless. We even named her Turtle.  And she wasn't fancy at all. Nope. No keyless entry. No power windows. No AC...not that you needed one in Connecticut. But it was my car, and I loved her. After a while, whenever it rained, my car would start collecting water. Yup. And each time I made a right or left turn, I could hear the water sloshing around in the back. Yup. And then my car would also do this strange thing. Whenever I took a left turn, and only a left turn, my horn would just go off, all by itself. Yup. It sure did. And I mean, not just a honk. But a full blown honking that lasted several seconds. Yup.  People would think I was honking at them, but I wasn't. I remember me and my BFSF laughing til we were crying whenever we were in the car together and that silly horn started going off all on its own.

Well Turtle was a great first car. She never let me down or left me stranded. She even got me through a blizzard when I was stupid enough to drive from Boston, MA back home to Windsor...a drive that normally took just under two hours ended up being several hours longer. Turtle even hung in there for the long haul when we made the big move to Atlanta. What a trooper! But eventually Turtle had to be traded in for a newer and better model. You see, it was very hard to survive in the A-T-L with a car that had no AC. There's a reason people call it HOT-Lanta ya'll! And so Turtle...sloshing water, honking horn and all...would be no more.

Turtle was traded in for my second car...a faithful, also never let me down 1991 Honda Accord. That car was sold this past week after going well and beyond what we could have ever expected of her. It's had to believe she was with us for about 15 years. So many stories and so many memories are tied to our cars, especially our first one. And so it's no wonder I felt a little pang of sadness and nostalgia as the Honda was getting ready to be towed away.

Do you remember your first car?