210SA - San Antonio's entertainment, culture and events publication - The Last Gasp: We'll never forget our very first cars

The Last Gasp: We'll never forget our very first cars

Wednesday, 30 May 2007

Everyone has had that first car. Some were clunkers, and some were classics. Some ran for years, and others ran for days. Either way, that car will probably always hold a special place in your heart. The 210SA staff is no different. So that's why we're chiming in with the memories of our first rides.

DUSTIN COLEMAN
Year and car: 1985 black Jeep CJ7
Time owned: 1988-1992
Lowdown: This was a cool first car. It had a hardtop that stayed off for eight months of the year and a great stereo. It was shiny black, and I had a Harley-Davidson sticker on the back even before I bought my first hog. We used to cram 12 people in that thing and head to Fred's Dance Barn in Illinois while Bob Seger blared away. What can I say? I'm a reformed redneck.
Best memory: Punching and breaking the windshield after a fight, then laughing hysterically at how stupid I was.

CLINT HALE
Year and car: 1995 hunter green Ford Mustang
Time owned: 1998-2003
Lowdown: My parents surprised me with it at Christmas of 1997. I was supposed to wait two weeks until my 16th birthday to legally drive it, but I didn't. No one really cared, though. God bless small-town living.
Best memory: The backseat folded down. I (technically) became a man. Two minutes in paradise.

JOAQUIN HERRERA
Year and car: 1992 red Ford Tempo
Time owned: 1995-1996
Lowdown: I found this car for sale in the parking lot of an H-E-B and took my parents to see it. I instantly fell in love. I had a CD player installed in it (back then, not even my parents had a CD player in their car). I was sooo cool.
Best memory: My best friend and I would drive down Ocean Drive in Corpus with the windows rolled down, singing along to ‘All I Really Want' by Alanis Morissette. We nicknamed the car the Red Penguin. Don't ask me why. It just sounded cute.

JENNIFER MCINNIS
Year and car: 1985ish red Ford Tempo
Time owned: Three weeks in 1990
Lowdown: This car was a piece of crap, but I was so happy to have wheels. However, I was not so happy when a fellow student rear-endeded me on the way to school. Among other problems, the ashtray fell to the floor upon impact.
Best memory: I used the settlement from the wreck to buy a Nissan 200SX that had 12-inch speakers and an amp. That car was way cooler than the Tempo.

JULIE ANN VERA
Year and car: 1983 navy Cadillac Eldorado with chrome spoke wheels
Time owned: 1988-1992
Lowdown: I owned this car through high school. It was my first love and the genesis of my obsession with large, sleek, two-door vehicles that continues to this day (I've owned two Chevy Monte Carlos and a Buick Riviera since). It was on this car that I learned to fix carburetors and timing chains, to replace alternators and starters and not to trust digital gas gauges (it left me stranded three times, but I still loved it. Sounds like most of my high school relationships!).
Best memory: Rolling up to prom in a Caddy rocked. Except I had to let my date drive. Loser.

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the last gasp

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