Cars in a lifetime.

As I continue to mourn the loss of my car, I'm reminded of other cars that have come and gone in my life. This blog is a brief summary of all the cars that have been in our family since I can remember. I was born in '76, and I believe my old man had a sweet jeep of some sort up in Connecticut, but I am too young to remember that.
So, let's begin, to the best of my knowledge, these are all the cars I've had close ties to. Please note that these are not the REAL photos of the ACTUAL cars I've experienced, but they are as close as I could get, some look pretty much exactly the same, even to the color of paint of on the car.

1980 VW Rabbit / Diesel / 4 speed.
This was the first car I remember well. The old man bought it new. I think it was $7k, but I could be wrong. I was so small at the time, me and my older could both sit in the front seat at the same time. It was loud and not to comfortable. It made it's way to Connecticut and back a few times. Interior was black. It was loud. We, I, I didn't appreciate how cool this car was at the time. I was embarrased to pick up friends in wealthier neighborhoods because it made so much noise.

Memorable moments include, the drive to the hospital, in second grade, after was knocked out from a sled riding accident. I woke in the backseat and asked my old man what day it was. Also, my older brother teaching me how to drive stick in a parking lot. I was like in third grade! I got it up to second. Should've paid more attention. My older brother got his license in this car and we took it over, he drove that machine as it was meant to be driven. My first brief moments of independence, cruisin with friends and my bro with my no parents around, acting like assholes.

Probably the coolest car we ever had in the family. Only lasted about 100k miles. My dad beat the shit out of it and it got hit once, while parked.

1980? Volore Wagon (was actually tan) / Automatic This was probably the worst car in the family. My mom drove this one a lot. There was a horn problem in it once, where the horn kept beeping. It was driven a lot on Sundays to visit my ailing grandma who I never really got to know cause she had a severe stroke, I think. There aren't really any good vibes connected with this car. I think this turned my father off to buying used cars as this one was pre-owned. That's just a guess.

1967 Chevy S-10 / (baby blue, with white top, rusted) / Manual transmission.
This was purchased in the early 80's to assist my father with farming for a while. Made lots of noise, smelled like gas, but was always cool to ride in. Back in the days when you had a little freedom, me and my brothers were allowed to sit in the back during trips. No one got hurt, no one got arrested. I think my dad drove me and all my buds to the park, in the pick up truck for one of my birthday parties. It was also driven to farmer's markets. It always felt like an adventure in that thing.
This was another vehicle I really didn't appreciate or respect as much as I should have. Very cool ride. It ended up sitting in our back parking area for many years. Ivy was beginning to grow around it.

1980 Cutlass Supreme (the real color was Maroon) / Auto
We inherited this from my grandma, around the same time my grandfather had past away. This was smooth luxury back then. My older sister drove this car around a lot. It didn't have a tape plaer, so, she put her boom box in the car and we would drive around town cranking out def Leopard and Aerosmith (Ragdoll) - that's the closet I ever came to enjoying that genre of music. Looking at it's shape now, it seems completely frivalous and even strange, but at the time, it represented class. There were a lot of these around.

1992 Oldsmobile 88 - Royale (Same color - but no spoked wheels)
As horrible as the 90s were, 'specially the early 90s, this was kind of a bright spot, as the Cutless was getting old and run down, and borderline ghetto. Things seemed to lighten up, my father was beginning to mellow out, and we had this nice new car. My very first trip into Canada was made in this vehicle with me, my dad, and my younger brother. We crossed over near Calais, Maine into New Brunswick. Me and my younger brother would laugh at anything and my father was ready to kill us by the end of the trip. At one point we had to separated when we ate out. God bless the old man for putting up that shit, I would've left us in Canada.

This car also made it down to Dallas to visit my sister in 1994. That was a memorable trip. My father hit an armadillo as we were leaving Dallas. I have no desire to ever go back to Texas. This car didn't last very long.

The 1994 Chevy Cavalier was the car that I got my driver's license in. This was initially a car for my sister to drive around, but she then moved to Texas so it was just waiting for me. My parents bought this thing completely bare bones, there wasn't even a radio in it. I had this car for my senior year of college and my first internship. I ended buying a tape player and radio for it at Bestbuy. Yes, I was listening to tapes in early 2000. It once broke down on the Turnpike during bumper to bumper traffic, the Sunday after Thanksgiving. I was pulled over in the middle section of the road. Kind of a scary time. It was noisy and you could feel everything, but it was reliable until about 2003.

We had Oldsmobile loyalty rebates so this was the first new car I ever owned. It had a CD player and a Radio in it. It wasn't too bad. This thing was as fun to drive as the Mazda but it's reliability was decent for the first few years. It eventually got handed back to my mom and dad as I got another car in October of 2007. It has been to Maine, Montreal, Hilton Head, and Detroit and DC, among other places.

This was the first vehicle that I really that I got. I was looking into the Scion xD, even testdrove one. There was a used Mazda3 at another dealership that I tried out. That's when I made the decision. It's been to Quebec City, Montreal, the Catskills and has made numerous trips back and forth to Pittsburgh. Probably the funnest car I've ever driven. No surprise if you check out my list of cars. Two weeks ago the tranny went.

This is the 2012 Mazda 3 I will be picking up today.