untanglingknots.com: My Little Pony

by Karla ° Tuesday, December 9, 2008

My first car was a used circa 1980 Hyundai Pony purchased by my parents for $600. I was 16 and so damn excited to have my own set of wheels that I didn’t even care about the fact that it had no power steering and that the radiator was totally shot and I had to carry spare jugs of water in my trunk to make sure the car didn’t overheat. That was back when five bucks worth of gas lasted me for an entire week and today it costs like $100 to fill my tank and then I drive around the block and the tank’s empty again.

My Dad and I spent a lot of time bonding while he taught me to drive a standard gear shift on that Pony. And by bonding, I mean me and all my incessant eye-rolling and annoyance whenever my Dad tried to tell me what to do.

But learn how to drive a standard car I did. And it wasn’t long before it was like second nature to me and the clutch and gear shift were so in sync that I could drink a coffee and eat an apple and give Mark a hand job all at the same time. I was nothing if not an efficient driver.

Where I grew up, there are two parts of town. There are those who live on the top of the big giant hill, and those who live at the bottom of the big giant hill. Mark lived at the top of the hill, and I lived at the bottom. I also grew up in a snow belt where winter driving could be pretty treacherous at times and after dropping Mark off at his parent’s house, I had more than my fair share of 2:00 am white-knuckle drives home down an ice-covered hill. But my Dad always had a solution to every problem and to help with the inevitable fish-tailing of my tiny light-weight Pony, he loaded the back on the car with a shit tonne of kitty litter bags. All the damn kitty litter. In my trunk. Go ahead and try and convince me that car wasn't bad ass.

My Little Pony was never stylish or pimped out with a thumping stereo system, but it got me from A to B, where A and B was mostly just secluded place to make out in the backseat with Mark.

And despite being a hunk of shit, that car was my teenage pride and joy right up until the day it totally broke down beyond reasonable repair and my dad decided to sell it. Parking it at the end of the driveway, he proceeded to prop a hand-written for sale sign in the windshield with a broomstick, but his knee slipped and the broomstick smashed right through the windshield.

Someone bought and hauled away my little Pony for $50.

Labels: Thinking Out Loud

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Comments:

Funny post! Your first car experience sounds like mine...$900 1981 Chevrolet Chevette, "bronze," four door hatchback. It had a small piece of wooden dowel for a turn signal and smelled like sweaty old man. I drove that car for 7 years. It was also terminally ill...oil and transmission fluid leaks that required a quart of oil every week and transmission fluid every other. It finally died a siezed up death on a highway onramp and had to be towed. It wasn't fixable (who'd want to, anyway?), so it was eventually hauled off (also for $50!) to the junkyard. Ah, the days. My car was named Dvorak (it had DVK in the license plate...I was so brainy in high school!).

Posted by Amy L. : December 09, 2008

I can relate. My first car was a smurf-blue 1980 chevrolet nova. No bells and whistles in this thing. It wasn't much to look at but it was a good little car, and I was so proud to get it too. I think my parents gave $1000 for it back in 1994. Those were the days.

Posted by Lovebuzz38 : December 09, 2008

ha! my first car was a 1994 cavalier manual. It was awesome but i never understood (buying the car before i was able to drive it) why people kept telling me "just wait till youre stopped on a hill... just wait!" until one fateful day i was indeed stuck on a hill and almost took out tons of cars while having a panic attack as i took off my shoe, kept the big toe on my brake, and moved the rest to the clutch and burnt out.

All ive owned are sticks. Theyre better in the snow and in michigan you cant beat that.

unfortunatly the car ran great but people that run yeilds trumps my driving ability overall and it was crunched into a small neat package. since then (7 years) ive gone through 6 cars. My lawd.

Posted by Anonymous : December 10, 2008

That's a great and funny trip down memory lane!
I only learned to drive 2 years ago, when i was 29 ~ i thought after having 4 kids it was about time!!
So after learning to drive in a Mini with the driving instructer, i passed my test and started driving a bus AKA The Grand Voyager!
Hope you are all well,
Love,
Amanda x

Posted by Amanda : December 10, 2008

My first car was an '87 Honda Civic. I remember the back seat wasn't bolted down in the back part, so whenever you sat on it w/o putting all your weight immediately at the back (read: never), it shot forward and threw you into the front seat! Other than that, it was good when my dad bought it from the lot. Of course, he decided on the way home to take me to practice parallel parking, and I promptly knocked the front bumper loose, where it hung a wee bit lower than it should have...and was never fixed as long as I had the car! Then, on the way home from getting my license, I took the very sharp turn onto our street at a high rate of speed b/c I was excited and saw Julia outside at my house, and broke the CV joint, also never fixed. There was a Pearl Jam tape stuck in the tape player, so that was my choice other than the radio (a wonderful one, though!). I had stickers all over the back of it, most notably the green and pink reflective dots. I had friends on more than one occasion see them from afar, and come and find me in a restaurant, store, etc. Oh man, do I miss that car!

Posted by Christi : December 10, 2008

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