How did it feel when you got your first set of wheels?

November 25, 2007

I must’ve been in 10th grade. I used to walk home every afternoon, and there was this VW sitting by the side of the road, a ‘67. One day my cousin and I got the idea that, since I was getting my learner’s permit, we should get a car. We bought the VW for $125. My first car!!

When we got it home we found it had a bad engine and more ‘bondo’ that you could shake a stick at, but who cared: it had ‘mag’ wheels and HUGE tires in the back! At that time, I had a friend with a few extra VW engines, and we popped one in my bug and went driving that day. It felt nice, and discovered no major issues, except a leak here and there. That night my two cousins and I got dressed up for our first night out in my car.. We went cruising to Old San Juan, and it was an exhilarating drive! Somehow I made a u-turn where I was not supposed too (I think it was just a dark parking lot, but nevertheless..) I got pulled over by the cops. The guy didn’t like that I was on a learner’s permit and made my older cousin drive. That was the end of the night. Well, the VW didn’t last much longer, as it soon needed another engine, so I sold it for $75 bucks.

Soon after that is when I got my ‘real’ first car. It was my dad’s ‘69 Buick Skylark, which he gave me after he’d been involved in a crash. He was furious at the car! I didn’t blink. I said thanks and somehow was able to come up with about $600 and fixed the hood, radiator, and other things, and got it painted. She was a beauty! The Skylark was Burgundy with white top and white interior, bench seat, 350 ci V8, automatic on the column, 8-track player (listening to Deep Purple’s ‘Highway Star’). My grandfather had a white 66 Buick with mag wheels, and I begged for them until we traded wheels. That was the car that took me to my Junior and Senior years of High School…

Posted in Cars