First Car (part 2)
My mom and dad had just gotten a new T Bird and that could only mean one thing to me. I was going to get the family hand me down. That's right a new to me 1972 Mercury Comet. The four door Comet was a yellowish gold color with a brown vinyl hardtop.
It wasn’t a cool car and I didn’t really care I was ecstatic that it ran and that it was mine. The only rule was that I would need to pay for the gas and make sure that I washed it and that I helped my dad when it was time to change the oil.
It didn't have things like NAV units and heated seats, but it did have an AM radio and front and rear bench seats with a blankets to hide tears in them. My dad bought it used from a guy he worked with at Ford that had babied it for well over a hundred thousand miles by the time my dad got it. It had a 250 cubic inch V6 that was miserably underpowered for a vehicle of this size. But since this car didn't have airbags, it needed to save lives by the use of steel... and lots of it.
It served me well for a few years as I drove it to death. I used to drive a handful of guys home from swim practice during the winter and I remember one occasion very well. It was the middle of winter and it was cold. On this occasion the handful of swimmers turned out to be more like 10. I only had one rule. I needed to be able to drive without having anyone on my lap and interfering with the control of the vehicle. I looked in the rear view mirror and couldn't see a thing as there were 6 guys piled into the back seat with a few of them lying across the laps of the others. One guy even had the bananas to fart in the back seat.
So anyways. I put the car in drive and rev'ed the engine to get the car moving. We headed out of the parking lot and I stepped on the gas... It wasn't going anywhere so I thought that one of the guys in the front seat must have hit the transmission selector and put the thing in low gear by accident. I eased the stick up to what I thought was drive and still go no response, so I eased the stick up one more notch and boom I heard a frightening sound as the car stopped in it's tracks. By mistake I threw the car into reverse when the car was still moving forward at 10 miles an hour. Apparently the cars of the 70's were never designed to be able to do this.
I got out to see the damage and looked underneath the vehicle. Nothing hanging from the bottom, so I put the vehicle back into park and started it back up. Nothing seemed to be wrong with it so I threw it back into drive and puttered around town dropping guys off at their house. The car only lasted a few more years and eventually my dad sold it to another guy from work and I got a van. But that's another story.
It wasn’t a cool car and I didn’t really care I was ecstatic that it ran and that it was mine. The only rule was that I would need to pay for the gas and make sure that I washed it and that I helped my dad when it was time to change the oil.
It didn't have things like NAV units and heated seats, but it did have an AM radio and front and rear bench seats with a blankets to hide tears in them. My dad bought it used from a guy he worked with at Ford that had babied it for well over a hundred thousand miles by the time my dad got it. It had a 250 cubic inch V6 that was miserably underpowered for a vehicle of this size. But since this car didn't have airbags, it needed to save lives by the use of steel... and lots of it.
It served me well for a few years as I drove it to death. I used to drive a handful of guys home from swim practice during the winter and I remember one occasion very well. It was the middle of winter and it was cold. On this occasion the handful of swimmers turned out to be more like 10. I only had one rule. I needed to be able to drive without having anyone on my lap and interfering with the control of the vehicle. I looked in the rear view mirror and couldn't see a thing as there were 6 guys piled into the back seat with a few of them lying across the laps of the others. One guy even had the bananas to fart in the back seat.
So anyways. I put the car in drive and rev'ed the engine to get the car moving. We headed out of the parking lot and I stepped on the gas... It wasn't going anywhere so I thought that one of the guys in the front seat must have hit the transmission selector and put the thing in low gear by accident. I eased the stick up to what I thought was drive and still go no response, so I eased the stick up one more notch and boom I heard a frightening sound as the car stopped in it's tracks. By mistake I threw the car into reverse when the car was still moving forward at 10 miles an hour. Apparently the cars of the 70's were never designed to be able to do this.
I got out to see the damage and looked underneath the vehicle. Nothing hanging from the bottom, so I put the vehicle back into park and started it back up. Nothing seemed to be wrong with it so I threw it back into drive and puttered around town dropping guys off at their house. The car only lasted a few more years and eventually my dad sold it to another guy from work and I got a van. But that's another story.
Labels: Cars
posted by Fe Man at 12:02 PM
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