Archives for June 2007

One of these days I need to scan in photos of the cars that I have owned. I have three photos below of cars that are similar to those that I used to drive. None of them are exact so I cannot paint as close a picture as I would like to, but this will do for now.

1977 Chevrolet Impala Station Wagon. The old family hand-me-down. It was plain white and since it was a family car not one that I wanted to drive. However since I didn’t have enough money to buy my own it worked.

It even made an appearance at my university. I can remember showing up at more than one even with no less than 18 guys in the car. It was a traveling party. I especially remember going on some late night food runs. The guy at the drive-in window didn’t quite believe me when I told him that I need 54 hamburgers, 36 cokes and 28 orders of fries.

1969 Dodge Dart Swinger with a Slant 6 225- My Dart was brown and a bit dinged up. Technically it is my first car because it was the first one that I actually purchased. I bought it from a friend of my grandparents. It was about a week before my senior year of high school.

I loved that thing. Used to go down to the pick-a-part so that I could pick up some cheap parts to fix it up.

When I bought this car I gave my folks the station wagon back and had the darn thing held up better it would have come to college with me. Instead the Brown Bomber went through a series of mechanical mishaps draining my meager savings faster than I could replace it.

It holds a special place in my heart. I remember doing donuts in the quad in it and using the enormous trunk to help some juniors sneak out to lunch. Rascal that I was I kept them in the truck for a good quarter mile while making sure to hit a few dips and fishtail around some corners.
1977 Chevrolet Camaro- I didn’t have T-Tops in mine, but it was a similar powder blue. I loved that car. It was fast and fun to drive. I took it everywhere. That Camaro was a witness to some of my best moments even some of my lowest.

I drove it up and down the coast and halfway to Vegas on more than one occasion. This car went through mudslides, fires and the LA Riots with me. Let me tell you that driving through some of the char-broiled sections of town was an experience, but the steel bumper and knowledge that I could make it fly made me quite comfortable.

Over time it eventually began to suck me dry. New suspension, new transmission, new A/C, new tires and more began to take the fun out of it. Eventually the power steering unit blew and I reached my limit. I sold it and moved on to a Toyota Camry.

It was 1993. If I had only managed to hold on to it a little bit longer we would have weathered the 1994 Northridge earthquake together. Sigh. I still miss that car. Actually I miss things about all of them.

I don’t know about you, but one of my favorite baseball movies is “The Natural” starring Robert Redford. Something about it just grabs me. I suppose that some of it is because there is a certain innocence tied into the movie.

Part of the movies appeal is the soundtrack. I love it, especially the music that accompanies some of the home runs.

Maybe the real appeal is that baseball is still a sport in which the average Joe can imagine having a shot at the big leagues. You don’t need to be exceptionally tall, fast or strong. Now while all of those things can be assets, they aren’t requirements.

Although I am beginning to wonder if baseball is going to become a generational thing. It appears to me that it doesn’t hold the same popularity as it did when I was a kid. I wonder if baseball cards hold the same appeal that they did for us.

Perhaps I’ll cover some of these thoughts in a later post.