Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Vintage Thingie Thursday: A Vintage Memory With My First Car

Welcome everyone to Vintage Thingies Thursday. If you have a love for vintage things, well....you have come to the right place. We have a "dog-gone" good time each and every week!!!
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read and follow the instructions for participating in Vintage Thingies Thursday, click HERE. I try and keep things fairly simple, so  please make sure you follow the instructions. Please only ONE link per week.  

Lastly, if you link in, your post needs to include:
1. the LINK back to my blog and or the button for Vintage Thingie Thursday. I have been visiting lately and when I click on a link, there is no mention of Vintage Thingie Thursday or my blog. 

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Starting this month, if you fail to either have the button on your blog, or in your blog post and/or have not linked back to my blog in your post. I will delete your link. 

It is not fair to those who follow the rules to allow others not to do so. I am not being ugly, but rules are rules.....in all aspects of life. So if you find your link removed, check your post, you need to see why that happened. Hopefully, I won't have to do that. 


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This week, I'd like to share a vintage memory!! Oh, how I wish back in the days when I was in High School, that we had taken photos like today's teenagers do....but we did not, so this will have to do for today!!

My first car, or should I say, the car I had to drive was a lime green Vega. It looked like the one I found a picture online to show. Only, mine was not this shiny or bright. It did not have air conditioning, and only had a am/fm radio.....no tape deck ( notice I said "tape deck"). Nothing fancy at all...but it was drivable and I drove it, Oh, did I drive it. One thing about this car was that it used oil, and when my dad let me have it to drive, he stressed how I'd have to keep an eye on that. I had to learn how to check the gauge and dipstick to see if I needed to add more oil when it was low and I had to know what type of oil to buy (Pennzoil 30W), and how to put it in. But hey, it ran, so I was all good.

I got to thinking about this car the other day because I have several friends who's teenagers are getting their drivers license and driving now without their parents. And naturally, they are worse than a cat on a hot tin roof .....worried. They talk about all the rules, no driving here or there. I sorta laughed at that when I heard about it and remembered how those words sounded to us at that age. I remember we did just about whatever it was we wanted to do, no matter what my mom said. Sorry mom, true. The key was just not to get caught.

One friday night during football season, the game that week was out of town. I had only been driving on my own a couple of months, so I was limited to where I could go.  And if I remember correctly, I had a small crush on one of the football players and could not miss the game. It was not that far, maybe 30 minutes away but my mom would not let me drive there and none of my friends were driving at that time. My best friend and I wanted to go to that game, and guess what?? We did just that. We left town, and drove to the game. We did not even stay that long, but it was the thrill I guess of doing what we wanted to do and get away with it. Yes, I was that kind of child.

Anyway, after we paid to get into the game and left to come home, the "Oil" light came on and I knew if the oil light came on, then it as low.....so I pulled into a gas station to have it checked. Now, at sixteen, I had no idea how far I could drive with the oil light on, and here I was over 30 minutes away from my hometown with a total of .35 cents in my purse. Seriously. No cell phones to call home, not that I would have anyway, my mom would have killed me had she known. Oh the mind of a teenager, no money other than some change and never once thinking a thing would happen.

The service station man (which certainly is a vintage memory these days) told me how low the oil was, I asked him how much oil I could get for .35 cents. I am sure I told him I was not close to home, and batted my eyes while doing so, because he put the oil in and took my .35 cents and the light went off and so did we.

With a great sigh of relief, we went straight home....at least to out hometown. Was I worried? Yes, only that my mom would find out. It was thrilling to have got away with that and nothing happening. You know how silly moms are anyway, they overreact and worry for nothing.

I have to laugh to myself at so many of my friends who fuss and fret over their teenagers in their cars. Somehow, I don't remember doing that too much when mine started to drive, but then again, my daughter as always pretty cautious about things. Seriously, I am sure they would not do half the stuff that we did at that age......and we are still here to tell about it.

That car would have lots of stories to tell if it was still around and could talk. Believe it or not I eventually throwed a rod in this car due to driving it low on oil. That was the end of that little car and all its wild rides I took it on. It was a sad day for sure.

So.....if any of my friends who have teenagers driving about now, I'd like to say just relax. Give them a little room to breath, that way, you will always know what they are doing and where they are. Think about how innocent it was to us all the shenanigans we got ourselves into back then. We made it just fine, and they will too!!! Oh, and mom.....I guess it took me 33 years to tell this on myself......I am thinking it was the worse I ever pulled behind your back, but hey, I'm alive!! :)

Happy Vintage Thursday Everyone. Have a great weekend!



31 comments:

  1. I've got 4 years until my first teenage driver. I know I'm not ready. Splendid story.

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  2. Suzanne,
    I had a red "74 Pinto. Love your green Vega :)

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  3. OH MY! What a great car! My first car was a Ford Falcon! Stick shift...no less! My hubby and I were just talking about when you would stop and get 50 cents worth of gas! Long time ago! heehee! ♥

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  4. That is a great post today! Thank You for hosting today. Have a good day......Julian

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  5. Hi Suzanne! Great story!! It's nice to know that I was not the only "wild child". Happy VTT!!

    Love,
    Susan and Bentley
    xxoo

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  6. I had a Valient that wasn't even a popular car back in the day. Cute post Suzanne.

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  7. What a fun story! My first car was a 1976 Gremlin. It never had a working speedometer and the back hatch had to be bungie corded down.

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  8. A great story, Suzanne...I didn't get a car until I was 19...a '55 chevie, Bel Aire...Oh honey..
    I did love that car.
    Thanks for hosting...
    xo

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  9. OMG, you just made me think of my first car too. It was also a Vega but not a station wagon and it was a silvery gray.....Christine

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  10. I had a 68 maroon mustang but your reminds me of my cousins yellow pint station wagon with the wood on the side we called it the POS mobile...pile of s*$^!
    LOL

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  11. The saying is" Confession is Good for the Soul". Too, the truth sets you free. I am sure you will feel better now.

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  12. I remember my friend and I scraping up $1.60 for gas and it lasted the whole evening. And don't worry, my Mom still doesn't know everything I did!

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  13. Wonderful story. We did not have a car and a boyfriend taught me to drive a truck. But I have been told a few stories like that by my kids. LOL
    Great post.
    QMM

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  14. Like Donnie, I drove a Valient. It was a light green color and had a push button gear selector. It had certainly seen better days but I was happy to have a car that would run.

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  15. Fun story and I enjoyed thinking back on my maroon Vega with tonight, though I'll take my Rav4 any day over that little car! Thanks for hosting another fun party.
    ~Lynn

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  16. OMG My first car was a vega too...a yucky yellow orange one. LOL
    *hugs*deb

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  17. That brought back memories. I remember driving around with 2 quarters in my pocket. Just in case I needed a gallon of gas. Those were days - mom couldn't call me on a cell phone, and good looking fellas pumping the gas.

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  18. Great story. I didn't take my test until I was 28 though - maybe my kids will be the same if we still live in London (she says in vain hope) as we've got the tube.

    I'm linking up for the first time to Vintage Thingie Thursday with all my vintage finds found in the charity shops of the UK! Thanks for hosting
    Lakota x

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  19. What a fun car!! I wish they made cool cars like that today-I'd love to have a neat little stationwagon!

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  20. Fun memories and that was such a fun little car! My first was a BOAT.

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  21. Mine was a vega hatchback. Of course all the kids in my family had to share it but I got my share of drive time. When I did I had more kids in that car than the manufacturer would approve. It also died of an oil malfunction but my thrifty father put a new engine in it and I drove it another 6 or 7 years. After it had been parked for a year someone else came along and asked to buy it. It was truly vintage and worn.

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  22. Well, that just brought back a flood of memories...but, I had a burnt orange Corola!

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  23. Ahhh, first cars. Yours was certainly a beauty, lol! I drove my grandpa's Oldsmobile as my first car. Not very "girly" but it certainly did its job! I drove that car EVERYWHERE :)

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  24. My first car was a long brown station wagon with the right panel mashed in, I didn't get in any trouble at all in that car........I remember the vega's and my second car was a blue pinto now that was really a step up then I had three different 60's Vw's and I also had a vw camper van! Thanks for hosting!

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  25. My first car was a late 70s Datsun B210 bright orange. I remember feeling so empowered when I was first able to drive. This was a great story that brought back many memories. Was your Vega green?
    Thanks for sharing & hosting my FAVORITE linky party!
    ~Danylle

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  26. OMG, I loved that car and I remember it be a brighter green, kinda lime color nowdays. We had so much fun in that and was devasted when it through a rod. The greatest memory was that you had SONIC monkey and colored plastic animals all around the visors of that car and I loved it!!! We loved going to Sonic all of us girls piled in your car. Much simplier times and YES I worry cause The Roads are much more crowded nowdays and more crazy drivers then we ever thought about, we only had a few redlights. And now it's like our kids driving in Arlington! No matter how safe they are, we are MOMS and worry!!! Good times for SURE! What ballgame was that????????????

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  27. I am glad I did not know because I was always concerned about you and was not able to sleep until you got home, but thank God He always took care of you. I love you and still pray for you and are always concerned about you but that is just me as your mom ( and probably most moms).

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  28. My dad had a Vega when I was two years old! I have memories of riding STANDING UP IN THE FRONT SEAT beside him in that car(I know, two years old and I remember?)!
    Thanks for sharing this. Funny stuff to look back on!

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  29. HA! I had a dark green Vega hatchback at one time... Not a lot of room, but it worked for our small family of three at the time.


    DI

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  30. Love it! My first car was a Ford Ranchero. Is it a car? Is it a truck? I guess it seemed like a good idea at the time...

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  31. Oh Suzanne I must join you and post a few photos of my first car a bright lemon Dodge Swinger! I loved that car, my dad helped me buy it and it had such wonderful memories.

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Sometimes someone says something really small, and it's like it fits into this empty space in your heart!

Thank you for stopping by and leaving your thoughts here, they really mean a lot to me!

Suzanne

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