Thursday, January 13th, 2011

My First Car

No one ever accused me of being a car guy. And I'm certainly not what you call a gear head. That being said, I remember that I bought my first car 21 years ago today. The date was January 13, 1990 and the car was a deep metallic red, 1990 Chevy Cavalier Z-24.

Since my birthday was back in September, I drove my parents' cars for a few months. Over the course of those few months, my parents and I worked out a deal so that I could buy a car. It wasn't much, but I made minimal monthly payments to my parents for the car and I was responsible for all of the insurance payments.

I can't find any photos of the car from its early days, so I guess I settle with this shot from September 1998. In retrospect, it wasn't nearly as cool of a car as I thought it was at the time. That's a lovely shot from my Glendale Heights apartment parking lot.

I ended up keeping that car until January 2001. I managed to squeeze several issue-free years out of that car, just routine maintenance. By the end, I was ready to drive it off a cliff.

So, if I had to rank the cars I owned, this would be my list:

1. 2009 Toyota Prius
2. 1990 Chevy Cavalier Z-24
3. 1997 Ford Explorer