IN LIFE AS IN THE DANCE : GRACE GLIDES

ON BLISTERED FEET.
---Alice Abrams

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Thursday Thirteen - Cars


Some people are freaks. And then there are car freaks. I think I fall into the second category!
Hubman and I've owned a lot of cars and had to sell some that we really loved. None of the photos here are the actual cars but I chose ones that were really representative. Here's my list:

1. I learned to drive on a '49 Plymouth. We called it the "Green Wienie," because of it's color! The real "wienie" never looked this good!!!

2. Would you believe I got my very first driver's license driving this boat? That included parallel parking and I did it the first time! The instructor knocked off three points of my total score because he said I swung too wide making a right turn. Well, yeah, I didn't want to wipe out the whole city block! (Isn't it funny how you can remember things like this? I got a 97% total score)
3. I drove this '62 Buick Skylark in high school and to work. It had an aluminum block engine and looked very innocent but it could take just about anything off the line. It had a neat little four speed and was hot to trot! It taught me how to throw a speed shift. It also gave me my first speeding ticket! (I've only had two!)
4. The first new car we owned after getting married was this one. I remember racing a Corvette on the freeway and backing off at 100 mph. Common sense kicked it, thank goodness!
5. When my mom passed away in 1992, she wanted me to have her '92 Cougar. Looks can be deceptive. It was a speedy little devil! My mom gave me me fondness for fast cars. She could drive circles around a lot of people... 6. The first hot rod hubman and I bought was a '32 five-window coupe. It was one of those garage affairs that wound up being "almost" perfect and made him pretty well decide against a another do-it-yourself job. It sure was gorgeous though...

7. If I ever get another classic car, I'd love to have another Mustang. I love the lines and the way it moves... Mine was blue.
8. One of my very favorites was this '51 MG TD. These guys weren't built for speed but for endurance! When you took it on the freeway it started doing the "shimmy, shimmy shake" at about 50 mph. But in the early evenings in the spring, it was always so much fun to go tooling about town with the top down. Mine was white.
9. One of hubman's favorites was this '56 Chevy Cameo Pickup. This is one we hated to see go! 10. At the time hubman and I married, I was the proud, yes - I say proud - owner of a Ford Pinto Station Wagon, the stuff jokes are made of! My first husband and I owned it less than six months when some old lady pulled out in front of me and almost totalled it! I had four kids in the car - no seat belts.

11. Back when we first got married, we had six kids every other weekend. The wise thing to do was buy a van!

12. Hubman has a '69 Chevy El Camino. His looks almost this good, except it's blue. The main draw back is that it doesn't have air conditioning!!! 13. We presently drive a Chrysler Sebring LXI. This is our third one - never even had them in the shop! Ours is midnight blue. Our second one was silver and the first was black.
We've actually had a few more but these are the ones with the most memories. I hope all you fellow car buffs enjoyed them. For those of you who could care less, I'll come up with something more universally interesting next week! Thanks for your patience...

18 comments:

Hootin Anni said...

I'm a car person myself...to the point I bought myself a V8/409 red trans-am once, and wanted to be buried in it. LOL

It was a beauty. Fast!! I'm too old now.

Anyway, love the coupe.

A great Thirteen this week.

Di said...

I almost closed up when I saw the title was Echoes of Grace...fearing that it was going to be all touchy feely...but then the first line was "Some people are freaks". You had me at "Some people are freaks!"

Unknown said...

What neat cars..Neat idea for a list..Lovely blog by the way

Empress Bee (of the high sea) said...

what an original idea! great tt gracie!!

smiles, bee

Lyn said...

El Camino - Now that is a cool cool car! Lyn from Bloggin' Outloud

Sarge Charlie said...

Wow Gracie, you are living my dream, yep, I lust for an A Model Coupe, and Miss Bee said I could buy one but I know she did not mean it.

Anonymous said...

Oh what a wonderful post! That brings back fond memories of our old Ford country squire station wagon, complete with "wood" sides!

Thanks for the well-needed smiles!

Crazy Working Mom said...

Whoo wee! Those were awesome. :)

Ramblins of a middle-aged goddess said...

Nice post Gracie but to me a car is something that runs, gets you there and gets you back!! I know that is just me...I don't really even care what it looks like. Hmm..Crazy woman...nope just need to get there and get me home...Practical and broke..that is me...tee hee..Sandy

Suprina said...

Wow, Beautiful Cars!

Awesome TT!

Mo and The Purries said...

You need to come here to the Big D in August -- the 18th is our classic car day = Rod & Roll.

The Rock Chick said...

Oh my..the purple car is my favorite! There a 1960 something (havent gotten close enough to tell and I'm not really a car person) in a dealer lot near my house. I don't know why, but I hear it calling my name. If I buy it, I will have it painted that purple color for sure!

I have a special TT today about everything happening on my blog on Saturday for Blogathon 2007! Hope you'll stop by!

Happy TT!
Jessica The Rock Chick

Sandee said...

This is a great TT Gracie. Do the two of you like the color blue? Just kidding. What a great walk down memory lane too. Have a great TT. :)

Katie said...

I love those classic cars.

Lazy Daisy said...

Wow, thanks for cruising down memory lane in some really cool cars.

Ramblins of a middle-aged goddess said...

I also read Carrie Ten Boom's bood "The Hiding Place". It really makes you think doesn't it? Thanks for stopping by today Gracie. Sandy

Travis Cody said...

Oh yeah!! I wish my camera would give up my pics of the car show from a couple weeks ago.

My folks currently have:

1940 Ford Fordor Sedan
1966 Ford Mustang
1985 Ford Mustang SVO

And of course my dream is a 1956 TBird.

I love this post - the cars are great!

Norma said...

I lusted for a Mustange for years, and finally got one in the late 80s. I hated it. Couldn't wait to sell it. What a disappointment.

http://collectingmythoughts.blogspot.com/2007/07/4009-have-your-interests-changed-over.html