My First...(Car)

Ok, so I have 2 first cars...

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My dad was in the Coast Guard and our fmaily moved to California in 1986. At that time we had one family car, a brand new 1986 brown V6 Mustang. We didn't have a need for a second car because my mom worked at the bank on base, basically a 5 minute walk from our military base town-home. Then, in 1988, my mom got transferred to another bank at another base, about a 15 minute drive from the base we lived on. It was then that my parents needed to purchase a second car.

It was an exciting day. I don't remember if my younger sister was with us or not, but I definitely remember going to the Ford car dealership. I was in the 8th grade, one more year before heading off to high school. My parents took me along because they said the the car they were purchasing would be mine to drive when I got my license. "Woo hoo!", I thought. As my parents looked around, my mom found a blue Taurus that she was interested in while my dad found a black V8 Mustang with red racing stripes on the side that he was interested in. As my parents discussed which car they should purchased, I was brought into the conversation. My dad took me to both cars. He told me that since this car would be mine, they wanted my input as to which car I liked better. As I looked at both cars, I thought the blue Taurus looked like an old person't car while the black Mustang with racing stripes looked fast and cool! So of course I told my dad that I liked the black car better (at that time I had no clue about cars and I just made my decision out of pure looks and out of the possibility that I would be the coolest girl in high school ).

I got my license in 1991(?) and I was excited to drive "my" car. My parents gave every excuse about why I couldn't drive it and so all throughout high school I either walked to school, took the city bus, or caught a ride from friends. I don't think I even got to go behind the steering wheel of that car once.

So, why do I call it my first car? Well, it is now finally in my possession After 5 years of working as a Manufacturing Engineer in Corporate America, my DearHubby and I decided it was time for me to quit and start a family (2003). We only had 1 family car (my other first car) and I had no way to run errands while DearHubby was at work. Then, at the end of 2003, my parents informed us that they needed to get rid of their black Mustang because they purchased a Ford Explorer and needed the garage space. DearHubby and I planned a 2 week cross-country trip, flew out to California, and drove the Mustang cross-country in April 2004!!! It was an awesome and unforgettable trip (I'll have to do another Memory Monday on the cross-country trip)!!! So, that's how I finally got my first car, 16 years later!!!

My other first car was the first car I had in my possession bought with my own money. It was 1998 and I just graduated from college. I actually didn't need a car since my apartment was just a 5 minute bus-ride from work and the grocery store was a 5 minute walk from my apartment. The only reason I needed a car was to get to church. Well, after a few months of "deliberating", I finally made the decision to purchase a car. I actually wanted to purchase a silver Mercury Cougar, but since I was working in the city, I decided that a Cougar would be too appealing for thieves. So, I settled on a good looking car, but one that I thought would keep thieves away. I purchased a brand new 1998 Ford ZX2 (Escort) Cool in Denim Blue. I actually wanted a silver one, but the dealership didn't have one in that color and since blue is my favorite color I just fell in love with the Denim Blue when I saw it!

That's the story to my first car(s) and the irony is that they're both still being driven today! DearHubby drives the ZX2 to work daily while I drive the Mustang. Since DearHubby is a gear head, he's done a good job mainting both cars and they still run very good. In fact, the ZX2 has about 206,000 miles on it and the Mustang has about 168,000 miles on it.

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