My First Car

When the kids today get their first car often at 16, they frequently get a family hand-me-down.

My family had one car a 1957 Ford 9 passenger station wagon ( we were a family of 8).
There was no hand me down.

So since I had $200.00, my dad (a car clueless man), helped me find a car.

We did not go any further than the gas station around the block. Sitting there for sale was a 1952 baby blue Ford Crown Victoria for $200.00.

The car was 10 years old and a top of the line car so it still ran.

Of course I bought it. For reasons unknown to me today, I called it Herman.

The car had an issue (how could you not guess this)?

Every thousand or two miles, the fuel pump wore out. The armature (or such) was too short and wore out.

Now, today that would have been fixed on a recall. Then, you had to get a new fuel pump.

I loved that car. I drove it for two years, when my dad was tired of the breakdowns.

He helped me pick my next car (when would I learn)? This car was a 1958 VW Beetle with a rag top sunroof. This car had no heater, no gas gague and the transmission gave out.

Dad had a series of cars that he bought for himself. One had push buttons to drive it, one had windows that would not roll down, one had oh well I could go on for hours.

I always loved my father and the cars he drove.