Monday, June 15, 2020

My First Car

Do you remember your first car? I do. It was a 1964 Volkswagen Beetle. A used VW Bug. Given to me when I got my driver's license at age 17 in 1974. I was a high school junior.

I loved that car and learned how to drive on it. It had a stick-shift (manual transmission) that taught me how to shift gears -- later useful for motorcycle-riding since almost all motorcycles have manual transmissions.

If you don't already know, I have a playful streak. Nobody could confuse an anemic VW Bug with a powerful race-car so I thought it'd be funny to pretend my Bug was a race-car. Toward that end, I added racing stripes, took off the exhaust pipes (making it loud), mounted a race-car steering wheel, and hand-stapled WHITE SHAG CARPETING to the interior sides and ceiling. Best of all, I installed a new horn that made the sound of a moo-ing cow. MOOO!! Hey, I was in high school.

To memorialize these modifications, I photographed the car -- with a fish-eye lens. I never do anything "normal." Here are some of those pictures which I just had printed from old negatives found in my basement. I plan to display these photos, along with the car's original ceramic gear-shift knob, in my future museum.

What was your first car?











15 comments:

  1. I love the Beetle, such a great car! These pictures are awesome.

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    1. Thanks. I took them sooo long ago, as a teenager with a film camera and artistic aspiration.

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  2. Having a Bug as your 1st vehicle makes me think perhaps you had some Hippie in you? *Winks* My 1st was a 1973 Maverick Grabber, Orange and White with Burnt Orange Vinyl interior and even an Orange Vinyl Roof! *LOL* But it was fast and sporty and I Sold it for more than I paid for it even after putting over 100,000 miles on it!

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    1. I had hippie in me -- but my father was a "law and order" cop. We had many battles, such as over the immorality of Pres. Nixon and the length of my (male) hair.

      That's a great story about your car. Isn't it interesting how much we remember about them?

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  3. I'm totally unsurprised that your first car was a Bug. Very you!

    Mine was a Pontiac Sunfire. Oh man, the things that happened in that car. I was very angsty when I drove it and the amount of times I went for long drives singing at the top of my lungs.. memories.

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    1. Yes, that car reflected me clearly. Thanks for seeing the resemblance.

      Glad you have memories of your Sunfire.

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  4. What an absolutely brilliant first car, and those pictures are fabulous! xxx

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  5. Beetles have such happy faces! If I were ever going to own a car, I would want it to be a Beetle! My friend Lucy had a white one!
    Your one sounds great! I want to hear that Mooing horn!

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  6. You are such a free-spirited soul, Ally! I adore that you were keen to march to the beat of your own drum at such a young age and can just imagine how many surprised faces must have appeared when you honked your moo noise horn.

    Autumn Zenith 🧡 Witchcrafted Life

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  7. My first car was SUPPOSED to be an orange 1963 beetle with one blue headlight fender. My grandfather sold it and never taught me to drive.

    So my first car was a 2000 acid-rain stripped blue Honda accord. It looked like garbage, but it drove as simple as a race cart. I wrecked it in 2018. Not hard to total a car worth $200. My father in law bought it, maintained it, and taught me to drive it.

    My first car I bought and have been fully responsible for is a 2005 silver grey Honda CR-V. I'm terrified driving it 100% of the time.

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    1. I'm sorry you didn't get the VW. And, yes, Hondas are as easy to operate as a sewing machine. (And as exciting.) Many of the dozen or so cars I've had were purchased for less than $200.

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