If Cars Could Talk by David Doyle

Man, oh man – I’m glad cars can’t talk!

When my parents told me that we were going to Grandmother’s and Granddad’s to look at a used car FOR ME, I about came out of my skin. In 1974, I was 17 and a junior in high school; about half of my friends had cars, but I was still hitchhiking home from school most days.

When we arrived, my heart sank. The car was a land yacht – a great big, wide 4-door Plymouth Fury III. No 17-year old wanted to be seen driving grandma’s 4-door Plymouth Fury III, especially when the color was BEIGE with white-trimmed chrome everywhere!

Yep. I can still see my first glimpse of the car, backed into Granddad’s driveway, and giving me stink-eye as I walked towards it. As I approached, I heard Granddad say that it belonged to someone he had worked with, and that the owner had hardly used it. This 1968 Plymouth Fury III had only 18,000 original miles, and it was in perfect shape in 1974!

My parents bought the car for $400 and the agreement was that I’d work and pay for insurance and gas.

You know what? Before too long I found that I LOVED this car! The A/C was cold, the seats and carpet were flawless, as was the body, and all the gauges worked. Did I mention that the car was very wide? Long and wide bench seats in the front and back provided extra “utility” for the car. But, I needed to make some changes before I could really show it off.

First, I bought chrome-plated baby-moon wheels all the way around. Next, I replaced the standard mufflers on the 318-cubic inch V-8 engine with glass packs (the straight-through exhaust that gave cars of the day that “rumble, rumble” sound). Next, I raised the back end about 4” so I could fit larger tires in rear the wheel well. The lift wasn’t quite high enough, so I added adjustable air shocks that gave me the extra height and allowed a future owner to adjust the height for regular-sized tires.

Obviously, my next purchase was big fatty tires all the way around! The back tires were about 12” wide, and the front were about 8”. With raised white letters on the tires, shiny-chromed baby-moon wheels, the raised back end, the custom dual-exhaust, the only other thing that I needed was tunes. I could have bought an 8-track like most of my friends had, but I instead chose a removable/lockable cassette deck, which I mounted under the dash below the AM/FM radio. With four new powerful speakers and the glass pack exhaust, my presence was known before I arrived.

Man, I was stylin’! My land yacht was the favorite ride for all my friends because I could fit about 8 people in this beast, we had great tunes, and a fine ride!

We went everywhere in that car – lots of concerts, skiing in Colorado and Sunrise Ski Resort, vacations in California, trailheads at remote desert locations….and drive-in movies. That car saw lots of drive-in movies (more than I saw, and I was there!).

I remember all my cars, even though a few were utterly forgettable. That old Plymouth, however, turned out to be one of my favorites. If cars could talk, my first car could tell some stories that --- well, you know. Never mind.

What was your favorite car? What secrets does it hold? What is your most memorable car story? Did you have long and wide back seat?

The image at the top can be found here.

Comments

[Rhonda Brewer]

David,
I think everyone has a story about their first car. Your story brought back memories of mine-1964 Mustang Convertible my Dad bought me for my 16th birthday in 1974. Thank you, Rhonda

[Mindytarquini]

For me, it was a 1967 Plymouth Valiant with a slant 6 engine. The thing was rusted out, but the engine was good. Would have run if I put sand in the carburator, but a friend used old highway signs to make those repairs, then I scrubbed her out and drove myself back and forth to college. I was so proud of that car. Paid for it myself, like 300 bucks or so. Thanks for the memories. Mindy

[Elizabeth Wunsch]

Oh my God, the days of my light blue Plymouth Sport Fury. The blue Bomb. 2 doors.I l laughed with joyful remembrance through your blog post.David, Thank you for the joy!

[Gretchen]

I love talking about cars, although I would never lift the back end and spend money on wide tires! My first car was a Corvair (remember? "Unsafe at any speed") which I named "Corrigan" after "Wrong Way Corrigan" because that described my driving perfectly! It was a standard shift and I remember the day I caused a long traffic jam because the light was on a slight hill and I couldn't get out of the intersection...

[Myranette Robinson]

The rule in my house was, we will buy you a car when you finish college. So that car was a Mazda GLC in tan. The car I hung out the most in during high
school was my best friend's Ford Fairlane 500, a hand me down from her brother. Ooh if that car could talk...