Frivolous Friday: Vehicular Nostalgia
I’ve been suffering from public radio-based Clinton/Obama Fatigue these days, so I recently rediscovered the ‘80s stations on satellite radio. And maybe it’s all the “Listen to Your Heart,” “Funky Cold Medina” and “Janie’s Got a Gun,” but my mind’s been drifting to my first car a lot lately. My first car, a 1989 Ford Tempo GL sedan in Wild Strawberry with gray cloth interior. I actually really liked that car. I’ll wait until you stop laughing and can read again before I continue.
The Tempo was the twin of the Mercury Topaz, and collectively the two models have come to be known by the delicious portmanteau, “Tempaz,” and have never been considered quality vehicles. When I mention my past Tempaz ownership around one or more car guys, it inevitably elicits a collective groan and a battery of disdainful looks. But I don’t care. When I think of that red Tempo, I’m 17 again, with big, BIG hair, cheap dangly earrings and conspicuous shoulder pads in my oversized blazer. I’m packing three girlfriends into the car on a Friday night, eating Arby’s with horsey sauce and curly fries, and taking them all to the drive-in to watch “Dead Poets’ Society.” The summer air is warm and heavy, and my responsibilities are few. It is a glorious feeling.
I know that the Tempo isn’t a car to crow about, especially if you work in the automotive realm and extra-especially if you work with a bunch of car folk. But that Tempo was my first taste of the teenage freedom that can come with a car (and it served me quite well for the 11 years I drove it), and I can’t divorce the two in my head. But I can laugh at this Tempo “commercial” on YouTube (here). No matter how much I romanticize it in my mind, the Tempo won’t ever be cool, but it will always be funny.
Now, it’s your turn. What car in your past still holds a place in your heart, even if it’ll never have a plaque in the Automotive Hall of Fame?
Posted by Bryn Apr 11, 2008 2:55 pm
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Categories: What Women Want in a Car | Rants and Raves
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1986 Buick LeSabre. It was red and rust over red cloth. It was surprisingly peppy. It was worn down, rusty, and broken. But it was my high school car. Similar to you, Bryn, it was my first taste of freedom, and I loved it. I loved wowing my friends in opening the forward opening hood.
I wish I could have another one. Just for the nostalgia.
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ewilfong
- Apr 12, 2008 9:40 am
(#2 Total: 9)
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My first car was an 84 Topaz GS, 5-speed manual. It would often backfire when I flashed the high beams, but it was otherwise in pretty good shape, having been owned by my stepmother prior to my $2000 purchase in 1991. Yes, I loved that car, but I lusted after one friend's 83 (or maybe 81?) VW Scirocco and another's 83 Honda Accord coupe.
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My first and current car, the Toyota Paseo. Got it when I was 16, got it running when I was 18. Now Im 19 and I love that car so much. I also love my mom's old 1990 Integra (Now she has a Fit Sport). That car practically raised me :)
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If you think the Tempo was something to laugh at, my sisters 1st car was a 77 Maverick.
It had a 200ci inline 6 that made all of 75 hp. No power steering (or power anyting else for that matter) and a "3 on the tree" manual transmission. Worse of all it was blue. Nothing wrong with blue really everything was blue, the paint, seats, dash, carpets, wheel... everything.
Even though it had skinny bias ply tires, you could not spin them. Even bringing the revs up to it's 3500 max and dumping the clutch would not give you a chirp, just a bog.
It really was the worst car I ever drove but she still has a picture of it on her wall. Something about that 1st car memory makes anything special.
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Your blog entry brought back so many memories, Bryn! My parents' (and everyone else's) Country Squire, where the vinyl seats fried our arses on a summer day. My father's '75 Dodge Royal Monaco -- which became my first car when I got my license. The big (and I mean BIG) blue boat would stall at intersections in the cold weather -- this was pre-fuel injection, of course, and it took forever to warm up. But it was a great car for carrying people in luxury. And, of course, the black Datsun 200SX -- my first car out of college, bought with 14K miles from a little old lady. Going from the blue boat to a zippy two-door was so liberating.
But I guess some of my fondest memories are of a friend's car. Her dad used to fix up cars, and he gave her a red MG Midget. The floor was so rusted through in the front passenger areas that you couldn't put your feet down, or you'd end up like Fred Flintstone. She used to pick up me and three other girls before going to high school every day. We were squashed in tight, but we all became best friends and sometimes managed to get into trouble even before school started at 8 a.m.
Carefree days, indeed.
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syke
- Apr 15, 2008 8:47 am
(#6 Total: 9)
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1937 Buick Special two door sedan (in 1968). 248ci straight eight, three speed on the floor, and a starter than was tied into the accelerator, not the ignition lock.
Had it for twenty years. Learned the antique car hobby which later transformed into both antique motorcycles and antique bicycles. It was wonderful.
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1960 MGA in olde english white with red leather interior. Bought it from a japanese gentleman in 1967 for 200 dollars and restored it myself. Drove the snot out of it through high school and college. Broke down every few weeks but could berepaired easily with a little elbow grease and a trip to the junk yard for parts. Finally, cracked the head on it when it overheated one day and sold it to my mechanic for the same 200 dollars. Sure wish I still had it, the absolute simplest car to maintain and it held all the great collective school day memories I am sure we all had with our first car. First loves and first cars can never be repeated. I guess that's why we remember them so fondly.
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flanken
- Apr 15, 2008 6:30 pm
(#8 Total: 9)
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1985 Mercedes 300D. 23 years after my parents bought it, and 9 years after I first drove it, it still has all the good parts: clattering diesel engine, smelly beige leatherette M-B Tex seats, vague on-center steering, and a complete lack of accelerative ability. The air conditioning and the odometer crapped out somewhere between 1999 and 2001, but I don't think the operative parts of the car are ever going to die. It's still amusing to drive, if a little toasty to cruise around in during the summer months.
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1986 Buick Regal with the 5.0 Oldsmobile V8, in black of course. Wonderful car, and all the more prone to nostalgia because it was stolen my freshman year in college, giving a tragic end. Roomy (I once had 11 friends inside, and another in the trunk), fast, luxurious. Got it off the proverbial little old lady in 1995 with about 7000 miles on it. Hell, if it hadn't been stolen I might still have it, 12mpg and all.
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