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First Car Stories from Readers of Dianna Huff's MarCom Strategist Newsletter!

Everyone remembers their first kiss and the first time they fell in love . . . well, it's the same for first cars, too.

A number of you sent in your stories about your first cars - how much they cost, their quirks, and most important, why you loved them and still remember them fondly.

If you have one of your own, send it in to me at info@dhcommunications.com

Jan O'Daniel's 1973 Hondamatic

My first car, purchased when I was a senior in high school, was a used 1973 Honda Civic. It was a Hondamatic, which meant it required clutch-less shifting from low to high gear. It cost $800 and it was mine, all mine. I washed that little car without fail every single Saturday-but it sure didn't look any different, clean or dirty.

My father and my boyfriend maintained the car, but I took great pride in tossing around automotive lingo like "carb," "tranny" and "rocker." I drove it 18 months or so before I was rear-ended. Technically, the car was totaled but it was still driveable, so I cashed the $800 insurance check. A few months later I cashed another check, this one for $500 when I sold it to my brother.

Besides being the best deal I ever made, that Honda taught me a few lessons of my own; things like it makes fiscal sense to own a car outright, it's a good idea to leave a little distance between you and the car in front, and knowing a few buzzwords doesn't make you an good mechanic or an expert of any kind.

Thanks for the ride down memory lane, Dianna.

Jan O'Daniel
www.janodaniel.com

Barbara Lewis' 1963 VW Bus

I gasped when I saw the picture of "How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive". That book was my husband's bible in the early 70s.

We bought our first car in 1973 for $100. It was a 1963 VW bus, complete with Philadelphia graffiti since it had been sitting for several months in the parking lot of Temple University's graduate student apartments, where we lived. Its first gear didn't work too well, so we often had to start it by rolling it down a slight incline and popping it into second gear.

The summer after we bought it, we drove from Philadelphia to Ft. Lauderdale to visit my aunt and uncle, who lived in a swanky beachfront condo. My mother asked if we were planning to get the bus painted before we went. We were really puzzled - why would she think such a thing? When we got to Ft. Lauderdale, we discovered that the residents parked in an underground garage, while the visitor parking was out front for everyone to see. When we met neighbors of my aunt and uncle for the first time, they'd say, "Oh yes, we saw your vehicle!"

A few years later we bought another very old VW bus with a much nicer body (and "cathedral" windows!) but a non-working engine, and my husband spent many hours pulling out the dead engine and replacing it with the working one. We were so sad to see our first bus towed away by the junker! We kept the second bus until our second child was born in 1981. We sold it because it didn't have any seatbelts in the back seat, and we needed to be able to transport children in both of our cars.

Thanks for the memories!

Barbara Lewis
Director, Communications
Lutheran Social Services of Michigan
www.lssm.org

Shad Sletto's '66 Red Mustang

What is there not to love about a first car? I remember walking around the corner of our house and laying eyes on my own car for the first time. It was a '66 red Mustang.

It reminds me of freedom, adulthood, challenge and opportunity. Having lived with my grandfather who was an auto mechanic, I knew nothing was going to prevent me from hitting the road; not a bad starter, dead battery, blown alternator, or even a burnt up clutch!

My hands, enthusiasm, and skill would allow me to go where ever I could afford that amount of gas to reach! My enthusiasm faded over a decade later as reality set in and I had to move on to a more modern vehicle, but nothing comes close to the joy I had driving my Mustang.

Shad Sletto
EGC Construction
www.egcconst.com

John Gilger's '72 Beetle

My first brand-new-right-off-the-showroom-floor car was a '72 Beetle. I've owned at least one VW almost continually since. Out of the 6 or 7 I've owned, my favorites (it's a tie) were a '73 Beetle convertible I bough used and an '83 Vanagon I bought new.

Now I'm looking for a decent Beetle to give my grandson, along with a copy of "How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive : A Manual of Step-By-Step Procedures for the Complete Idiot" when he turns sixteen.

John Gilger
Copywriter
jgilger.com

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