It's my dad's '51 Ford. Look at the chrome. Look at the white wall tires. I learned to drive in this car in 1958. It was still shiny and clean, because that's the kind of parents I had--they kept cars and houses shiny and clean. It was a stick shift and my dad would mostly yell at me when I couldn't start in the middle of Seventh South, which is a hill. He would then demonstrate how he could move forward an inch at a time on an incline letting up the clutch and pressing the gas pedal with precise timing. What control he had! He was a genius with the stick shift. He didn't say he was a genius, but he demonstrated it.Well, yes, your holiness. You've been driving fifteen years. Give me a break. I squelched saying it aloud. I needed him to teach me how to drive.
And then I could. I loved driving up Emigration Canyon to Parley's and back home again. I loved 8th South, 9th East, 13th East, 15th East, Sunnyside Avenue. I loved Lincoln Street between 8th and 9th South, because the Mason boys lived there. I loved driving through Federal Heights and picking out favorite houses. I loved driving to Hires and having a car hop bring me a root beer float.
What freedom a car is. I would still like to get in my car and drive somewhere unplanned and unknown. No maps. I think I must do that.
For $30,000 I could buy a '51 Ford today. I don't think I'd enjoy driving a car without power steering and power brakes.
I'd really like to see my dad.
What was your FAVORITE car?
Blue Buick Skylark. I think it had a 455 engine . It was maybe a '69? All I remember was that it was coooool. And fast. And I kept driving when the oil light came on and ruined the engine and my dad was soooo mad at me. I was just 16.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great car!
ReplyDeleteI am not sure I have a favorite car. I love what I am currently driving, but for every chapter of my life I have enjoyed whatever it was I was driving (sans the Aussie Grand Marquis). Minivan for baby/kid world, Suburban for the horsie years of hauling a trailer, Trailblazer for the mother of HS athletics and trips to the mountains...
Now I have a Volvo station wagon, and I love it. Short me has good visibility, room in the back for a bloodhound and a Bouvier, or plants from the greenhouse, and the odd piece of furniture should the bargain present itself.
i've been trying to comment on your blog for.like.ever. and for whatever reason ever time i tried i got the rainbow wheel of death. tonight it worked so i'm just going to blab away.
ReplyDeletemy first time behind the wheel goes down as the single most traumatic experience of my teenage life.
picture it: white family stuffed in blue astro mini van. going 90 MHP down the I-15 someplace in montana (my dad told me i had to keep up with the flow of traffic). unsure of how to steer.
serious weaving occurred. weaving at 90 mph is not for the faint of heart.
my youngest brother cried. cops may have gotten involved.
drivers ed did little to improve my skills.
I haven't driven my favorite car yet, which is a Mini Cooper. Someday, I tell myself. Someday...
ReplyDelete