Ok, so Maynard was a 1965 Mustang. We drove down to Mt. Home to look at it. Dad had seen the ad in the paper in the morning and that night after work, we drove down to see it. I think we got to Mt. Home about 8:30pm.. it was dark. The woman was only asking $500 for the Mustang, so we knew there had to be some problems with it. Well, YEAH.. major problem, the driver's seat wouldn't stay in the "locked and upright" position. It laid down FLAT against the back seat... and it ran pretty rough, but it was a MUSTANG!!! A '65 MUSTANG! We talked her down to $450 and drove off with "Maynard". Now, Mt. Home is almost 100 miles from home, SO, I had to drive all the way home not leaning back! That was painful let me tell you. We fixed the seat first thing...So, I was the proud owner of a car... what a difference that made in my life! I could tool around town..FREEDOM!!!
Did you grow up where people cruised? We had a cruise route, up and down 4th Avenue... Turning around at the mall and Dairy Queen. Every "group" had their own "hang out" parking lot. And then you cruised up and down the street to see the other people hanging out. Maynard was a Friday night fixture on 4th avenue.
Maynard also gave MANY rides to lunch. We once had about 12 people crammed into the car to drive to Taco Time for lunch.
Maynard had a tricky battery/starter/alternator problem... I don't know what was wrong, but 4 out of 5 school days, you would find me with the hood up, banging around with a hammer, getting back in the car and starting it up.
In the winter, I was dug out of many a snowbank by kind neighbor men. Maynard didn't have much traction... or I didn't have very good "snow skills"... its unclear which problem was the culprit. But the time Mr. Trees pulled me UP the hill with his tractor accounts for the warped front bumper, if you were curious, Dad.
I also am responsible for the dent on the front right fender... I don't remember what happened, just that I was afraid for my life that Dad would see it as soon as he came home. Maybe Maynard was beat up enough that he didn't notice, but I don't remember him ever asking.
As long and I am on that subject...Dad.. avert your eyes... Are you still looking? STOP reading...
I was stopped at least 3 times by the police, but never given a ticket... I guess the look of pure terror and tears at the prospect of bringing home a ticket made them take pity on me.
Maynard also made a few trips to Boise...shopping... during school... I don't know how he got down there without me, since I was a "perfect child" and wouldn't DREAM of skipping school.
I was at church the other day and someone had the most beautiful red Mustang fastback in the parking lot... It made me think of Maynard... Maybe when I am done with the Mom/Chauffeur stage of my life, I can trade my mini van in for another 'Stang.
February 21, 2007 | Permalink
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MY first car was a '68 Dodge Dart which was aptly named the "Tan Mother." The whole family went after work one evening to Boise to buy it. It was in pristine condition and I think it only cost $400. I remember that I actually pitched in some money to buy it - maybe a couple hundred bucks? I was awash in earnings from being a Karmelkorn girl at the mall part time.
It was tan (well, DUH) with tan vinyl seats. She had all sorts of silver/chrome-like trim. It had AIR CONDITIONING if you can believe it. It was a unit that was installed after the factory - it was a big long black thin unit under the dash. It actually worked pretty well. It would be a very long time until I owned another car with A/C.
It also had an 8-TRACK PLAYER in it! Sweeeeet!
When we bought it, the body was perfectly staight - no dings or scratches (something Dad likes in his used cars - with the possible exception of Maynard, which apparently blinded him with his Ford pedigree). But by the time Tan Mother was traded in/sold (don't remember which), she was kind of beat up.
The front grill was especially affected by my driving. Back then, I actually DROVE between a couple of my classes on the TVCC campus. In particular, going from the Weiss (sp?) Building up to the gym complex up the hill.
I was always running late and so would virtually SKID into the gravel parking lot at the gym. Well, there were these really big log posts that held a heavy metal chain along the sidewalk and you just wouldn't BELIEVE how many times I came skidding into that parking lot and ended up bumping into one of those posts!!
Anyway, after a couple years, the front grill was bent into some sort of looney "smile." It actually looked like the car was smiling - people would tell me that as they saw me coming down the road. Poor car.
Tan Mother also made trips to Caldwell for the Sizzler Salad Bar during lunch and perhaps Boise a time or two. It was also stuffed full of girls a few times - I think the record was something like 14. And I think I only got stopped once in that car - Mom and Dad know the whole story there (it was when it was snowy and I was going to a basketball game in Nyssa and I slid through the stop sign at the bottom of the hill and got stopped by our neighbor who was a state cop. I was so upset, I went back home and tearfully confessed. They just told me to go ahead and go to the game!).
My next car was a '74 Plymouth Duster - red fastback with a big white stripe. It looked a little like a Starsky and Hutch car but wasn't the right type of car. I drove that going to TVCC and OSU. I had that until I bought a little red 200SX in my early 20's. Neither of those cars had names, though.
At some point in high school, I got to drive Dad's old '58 two-tone pink Dodge that Uncle Duane is now restoring in Montana. I rear-ended a neighbor's brand-new pickup dragging main one evening - right in front of the line waiting to get into the Pix movie theater! I was so embarassed. That was before cell phones (LOOOOOONG before) and I remember going to the ticket window and begging to use the phone.
It recovered from that incident, only to "blow up" in the homecoming serpentine on 4th Avenue. Then it went up to the barn where it languished for more than 20 years before being rescued by Uncle Duane.
Ah car memories - thanks for sharing!! - Love, Nat
Posted by: Nat - MY car memories | February 26, 2007 at 01:08 PM
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