The first car I remember driving was my neighbor Matt's Ford Courier pickup. It was a little truck that was often left parked in their horse paddock, to move hay and manure and anything else around. They had a small barn with a couple of horses. They also had little to no supervision after school until after five o'clock when their dad got home from work and started drinking his bottles of Miller High Life.
The paddock was roughly the size of half a football field and included a large rock pile towards the rear of the property that Matt claimed was an ancient Indian burial mound. In retrospect, I suspect whoever cleared the land for the paddock just piled all the rocks there instead of making a stone wall, which was more traditional in those parts. Regardless, I chose to treat the rock pile with a degree of reverence, just in case.
The Courier was easy to drive. I believe it was a manual, but I rarely had it out of first gear. I only drove it for short stints at a time, and made sure to park it more or less where I had found it.
The next few cars I drove with adult supervision, after receiving my learner's permit at the age of sixteen or so. There was my dad's Prelude, which was a great car and very easy to shift. Then there was a Jeep CJ-7, which belonged to the Explorer Post in town, of which I was a member. The Explorer Post was an auxiliary fire and rescue department, run by a handful of knowledgeable and devoted adults, with the aim of teaching high school aged kids how to work as a team and assist the town's fire department in any way we could. While we weren't allowed to enter burning buildings, we received training to do so, as well as all types of rescue techniques, advanced First Aid and CPR, etc.
The Jeep was a much more finicky vehicle to drive, probably because the synchros in the transmission were worn out from all the kids who had been taught how to drive manual on it. Synchros are cone-shaped friction devices within a transmission that help match the speed of the two gears you're trying to connect when you let out the clutch. If they're worn out, you can still shift, but you have to match the engine and gear speed on your own.
Once I was somewhat proficient behind the wheel, I more or less stopped driving and just rode my bike everywhere. I bought my first car (a 1980-something Subaru wagon of indeterminate color - kind of a dirty gold) at the age of 27, in order to move to New Jersey to take a job in a bike shop.
Buying the Subaru was my introduction to automotive maintenance. I learned how to change axles and "repair" exhaust lines, basically whatever broke I tried my best to fix. Once, with the help of a friend, I changed the timing belt, which proved to be quite a challenge.
While I still love bikes, I can't deny my passion for all things car-related. When I moved to New Jersey, I met a lot of guys who were really into cars (and bikes!), so that probably had a lot to do with it. There was Ferrari Bill, who worked for Ferrari and currently owns a very successful British roadster restoration business; Ken, who sold automotive supplies and always drove something cool; Buck, who was my roommate for several years - he had a new and interesting car every year or so; Damon, my friend, neighbor, and eventually my boss, who had a Porsche 944 Cabriolet that was a lot of fun... and many more.
Perhaps it was the local roads that drew all these car enthusiasts to the area. Driving along the Delaware River on River Road (on the Pennsylvania side) was an existential experience. Dark red cliffs rise a few hundred feet above you on one side, a couple feet from your side-view mirror, while the Delaware comes and goes from view, often only a foot or two below the road surface. Twists, turns and one-lane bridges were the norm, with a few straight shots where one might be tempted to open it up a bit. The entire road seemed to have these perfect undulations, which made the car bounce around to a rhythm that matched the thrill of the drive.
With autonomous vehicles coming on strong, I wonder if our kids will get to experience the thrill of driving like I did. I certainly hope so. One way or another, I am confident they'll know how to change a flat tire, check the fluids, and generally not be helpless on the road. On the flip side, I would love it if one or more of them chose to ride their bike across the country at some point, something I never got around to. No amount of technology should prevent them from such an accomplishment.
I tried learning how to drive a manual when Dan got his honda civic circa 2011. First time out I almost hit 4 deer driving through town. I got spooked since I didn't know how to react in a manual, constantly felt I was going to break the car somehow. Haven't touched one since, mainly because the civic met its demise on a skiing trip. We hit a little black ice, bumped a guard rail and everything seemed fine. Summer came along and despite several check ups no one diagnosed the radiator (not the thermostat) was cracked and we ended up needing to replace the head gasket (twice). The third time we gave up and sold it to the mechanic. He put a new engine in it and gave it to his daughter for her 16th birthday. It's kind of a nice journey for that car.
ReplyDeleteI had always wanted to try a jeep, and when we went to St. Croix we rented one. I didn't realize how little space they had, but boy was it fun driving around. We could drive ANYWHERE in that thing. Definitely added a whole 'nother dimension to our vacation :) I don't think we'll get one anytime soon, but it was definitely a blast!
When I was a young teen my dad bought a 1984 porsche (I think a 944, but don't quote me on it). I thought the coolest part was the headlights that popped out of the hood. He actually kept it in storage over the winter and only drove it on nice days. Cracked me up how much he loved that car. He sold it a couple years later and went back to buying cheap junk cars to drive to the job site. He could find a cruddy car for $500 and put maybe another $1000 into it and it would last him 2-3 years. I never knew how he managed to find them, but it was really a talent of his. Better than driving a new car down dirt/gravel roads and getting it messy and/or scratched all the time.