A new car! (Sort of)

I had been driving the same car for seven years. It was a 1972 Pontiac LeMans Sport that my father purchased from the high school's auto mechanics teacher. We got it in 1979. I wouldn't own another car manufactured in the same decade until 1999.

That car took me through so much. I made out for the first time in there. I drove it to my first job. I drove it to Roswell several times. I took it to college. I'd driven to Ft. Worth in my first college road trip. I'd had accidents and flat tires. I'd run out of gas on several occasions. I even once wrecked the transmission, which my Dad had to replace.

One thing I didn't mention was that a couple of weeks before I graduated from college, Mom and Dad offered me their Buick Rivera as a graduation present. I refused the gift. I told them that the car was too big and didn't really suit me. Actually, I didn't want to give up my old car. I really loved that car and everything I had been through with it.

In October of 1986, my parents told me that I didn't have a choice. They were going to get me a different car and I would have to give up my car once and for all. They were going to buy a used car from one of my supervisors at my old job at Main Place. It was a 1978 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme. It was an okay car. It was still kind of large for me, but I could see my parents weren't going to take no for an answer this time.

The one thing it had that my old car didn't was a cassette player. After my parents dropped off the new car and took the old one, I grabbed one of my favorite cassettes to test out the sound system. I waited and waited, but nothing played. THE CASSETTE PLAYER DIDN'T WORK! I was so disappointed! On top of that, there was a CB radio in the car, but all I could get it to do was blast my voice through the rear speakers. At least the AM/FM radio worked. One thing I couldn't do in my old car was listen to the station I worked at. I had to use my portable stereo for that. (And actually, the AM radio had stopped working by the time my parents had taken it away.)

It wasn't long before I got to have new adventures in this car. Those adventures also included a few accidents, flat tires and running out of gas. This was the car I took with me when I moved to Denver, but I only got to drive it around until 1991. I had it for less than four years. When my Dad came to take it away, he had to tow it. I think he was able to get it running again and sold it, but it was a lot easier to let go of than my first car.

Even to this day, I continue to dream that I am still driving that Pontiac. I guess this is true of everyone and their first car. The funny thing is that I never dream about my motorcycle, which I had before my car.