to mark the occasion, I sold my "55 Chevy for $100...
and my folks bought me a "used", 1969 Pontiac GTO...
it had 10K, a 400ci V8 engine, automatic trans. & was "Liberty blue"w/black vinyl interior...
it cost $2400...
[$4500, new...very expensive for those days...]
and I absolutely loved that car...
I could "cruise" for over an hour at 100 mph...
and did, driving across Utah...
[there was NO posted speed limit...it was legal...]
that car took me to Chicagoland in 1973...
where the engine was completely rebuilt...
and eventually back to NorCal in 1978...
it was during that trip "home"...
that I saw my first big odometer event...
it turned from 99,999 to 00000 as we crossed the Oklahoma/MO line...
[this isn't the GTO's odometer, but it had only a mechanical, 5 digit one...
like this one, unlike today's cars which have 6 digit, digital ones...]
so why am I remembering that June day in 1978 today ?
because today, the last car I'll ever own...
a gold Honda Accord, V6 coupe...
did this as I pulled into the church parking lot...
I sold my GTO at 135K a couple of years after my return...
the engine had been rebuilt, again...
there were big rust holes in the floor & body...
the vinyl upholstery was so cracked from being frozen...
that it was almost "none existent"...
and it had become "undependable"...
it was dying slowly...and it broke my heart to sell it...
it wouldn't be until 1998 when I leased my dark green Accord coupe...
that another car "took my breath away"...
and when I turned it in at lease-end in 2002...
I felt the same pain as when I sold the GTO...
[it had some frame damage & was worth less than I owed...]
but I had already picked-up my 2003 Accord...
which I leased for 3 years, then used part of my inheritance to buy in 2005...
it doesn't make my heart beat faster...
but I really do like my car and you must admit...
that not too many 2003's have only just turned 50K...
especially after almost 7 years...
so I'm looking forward to many more years...& miles...
but I have to tell you, seeing a '69 "GOaT"...
[or a dark green '98 Accord coupe]
still spikes my blood pressure...
I get that adrenaline rush in the pit of my stomach...
and I'm "there"...
I'm 21 again, doing 100mph across Utah, all by myself...
windows down, hot wind whipping my hair & face, sun in my eyes...
heading straight for "who-knows-where"...
and loving the sheer adventure of it...
4 comments:
It's amazing what loyalty GTO's inspire. My college roommate owned one, wrecked and totalled it (she must have been divinely protected, it should have killed her) and promptly went out with the insurance money and bought another one. A college in the 1980's said she still had dreams about going to see a man about buying a used car, opening the rusty garage doors of a ramshackle shed and finding an immaculate 1969 GTO just like hers inside.
I don't think I've ever felt that emotional about a car - but I was very fond of my 1972 powder blue Beetle with the navy interior (maybe because the previous car, my 1966 Beetle with the sunroof, leaked like a sieve and I was tired of soaked floorboards!). I got it sophomore year in college and drove it until a couple of years after I started working. We traded it because my husband has a leg problem and couldn't drive the standard transmission. I have to admit I would be tempted if I found another one in good condition, but that's not likely.
Typo strikes again. That's "A colleague in the 1980's..."
I proofread and proofread, but I still miss things.
...amazing how strong a pull our memories can have on us...
I wanted a "VW Bug" in high school, but had to be happy with the recycled old family '55 Chevy[it was light green & white]...I only got that because I had "gigs" to get to in college... my brother, who spent his summers working in a fruit packing shed, instead of attending music camp
[which eventually earned me a full music scholarship to college] bought himself a '66 Mustang...
My first Beetle, the '66, had been totaled. My mechanic father bought it for peanuts and put it back together (except for that leaky drain around the sunroof). We spent many weekends running arond to junk yards to buy body parts and pieces for the restoration. The only thing my mom didn't like about the enterprise was the former owner of the Beetle had sort of a "reputation", shall we say, and when we got it fixed and running I was the recipient of many honks and waves until people figured it wasn't her driving the car. It gave my mom fits.
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