Car #1 - 1984 cream (not white) Chrysler K car station wagon with tan pleather!
This was my first car. It was a hand-me-down that my parents bought in 1984 for my older brother and sisters to use. Eventually they both bought their own so in high school this became my mode of transportation. Mine didn’t have the stylish wood trim or curb feelers but it was all cream with tan pleather interior. Someone ripped of the Chrysler emblem off the hood so I replaced this with a brass golf trophy figure I had won years earlier. I painted the golf figure so he had kelly green pants and a white polo.
Giving a teen-ager a station wagon should be a deterent to picking up chicks however, if you get one that isn’t concerned with being in a snappy car like this the situation changes only for the better…seats all go down…instant travelling bed!
Fast forward to the spring of 1986. My parents were out of town on vacation leaving us with a “house-sitter” and my sister and I had to share this car. The deal was I get it for the day and be home at a certain time so she could have it that night. I pick up my girl friend for an afternoon date and let’s just say I lost track of time. At home my sister was blowing a gasket waiting for me. She asked our “house-sitter” to borrow her car to find me. Somehow in the state of Michigan she was going to use her powers of telepathy to locate me (no cell phones back then). I guess her powers actually work because she did find me. Driving down a dirt road she noticed the back end of my car on top of a hill with the back end sticking out of the woods. She and her friend decide to have a little fun with us so they quietly pull up behind. It was lightly raining outside and I didn’t notice them slowing rolling up behind us. As I feel lucky rounding second base and heading towards third HOOOOOOOOONNNNNKKKKKK!!!! I literally hit the ceiling, yell “GET UP FRONT!”, jump in the drivers seat, hit the gas and gun it! I had no idea where I was going to go but I was hulling down this remote muddy dirt road, shirtless girlfriend trying to get dressed bouncing up and down sans seat belt and my sister on my butt lights flashing making me think it was a cop!. Eventually the muddy road opened up into a newly plowed developement that was just a field of mud. I managed to get through it but my sister and her friend were stuck. We kept driving away thinking how lucky we were.
I dropped off my girlfriend (in a mud covered station wagon) and went home. By now it’s late dusk just pouring outside with lightening and thunder. The front doors fly open and there is my sister and her friend soaking wet. She looks at me and says “YOU! You idiot! That was me behind you!” Whoops. The car she borrowed was stuck in the mud. We all pile into our station wagon to get the other car out. It is so far out into this developement I had to park at least a good 1/2 mile away. It’s pouring, thundering and mud is everywhere. When we finally get to the car…it is literally sinking into the water and mud. The first tow truck we called for also sunk into the mud. The second tow truck managed to get both vehicles out but ripped the front end off the borrowed car. When they got it to the repair shop mud and water had filled the inside of the car. When my parents got home from their vacation they had to pay for the front end and inside to be replaced. They never used a “house-sitter” again.
