Wow, Fred, the 1st car question is getting a big response. I guess it was
something special for lots of folks. It was an all important thing for me too.
I worked my tail off putting up hay and or plowing farm fields, hooking logs
in the hardwood forest for a sawmill company and then off-bearing cut hardwood
lumber in the sawmill -- all for the dream of buying a car by the time I was 16
and old enough to drive. In the summer before I was to turn 16 my dad was out
of work (coal miner in the deep mines). Our shak of a house was desparate for
a new roof and dad was completely broke. I loaned my savings to my folks for a
new roof.
On November 11, 1967, just 19 days before my 16th birthday and almost two
months before I could get my license (January 3rd, 1968), I purchased for $739
a 1962 Oldsmobile Cutlass F-85. Dad and mom were back to work and they signed
a promisary note at the bank to help me buy the car. The car was shite with
blue interior. It had a floor shift automatic with a nifty little console. It
had a 215 cu.in. all aluminum V8 engine with a four barrell carb. It was rated
at 185 horsepower. The car was very light in weight and it had coil spring
suspension on all four corners. It had 13" wheels with a four bolt lug
pattern. I thought it was cool beans then and it probably was not at all. It
was a pain in the tail to keep it running, especially after it overheated once
due to a pin sized leak in a heater hose. The aluminum engine must have
"warped" on overheating because from that day on it would blow the right bank
head gasket. If I torqued the head tight enough to hold the gasket, the engine
would get so tight on warmup that it would almost sieze. On a tear down we
could see heat damage (a blue tint on the rings and the on the right front
cylinder wall). The "slush box" two speed automatic transmission had also gone
bad and was repaired at considerable expense by AAMCO. Finally, after putting
soooo much money into it to try to keep it going my dad made me sell it.
Although I had been a terrible student in high school, I decided to go to
college and at college I was not allowed to have a car as a freshman. After I
completed my freshman year on the Dean's list and after getting enough jobs
through the school to pay most of my college expenses, my parents were elated
with the turn around in my academic fortunes and they helped my buy my 1st new
car, a 1970 Chevy Nova - deep forest green, 350 V8, that was one sweet ride!
My 1st Brit Car came almost ten years after my wife and I lived in London for
about two years. It was on my 40th birthday in 1991 and it was a 1977 MGB
which my friends and my children came to know as "Chiquita." (It was a
greenish yellow with balck stripes. Hence the banana logo name.)
My "Pride - Ride" at present is a 1955 Triumph TR2. It is almost as rare as
the '62 Olds Cutlass F-85 seems to be.
I don't give a toot if any of the listers read of line of this story. I HAVE
THOROUGHLY ENJOYED THE REMEMBERANCE AND THE VENUE TO PRESENT IT!
Thanks for the stimulus to recall all of this and for the forum to relate it to
the world.
Rob BlubaughRensselaer, Indiana, USA (Home to TS7690 - still awaiting a new
camshaft and warmer weather)
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