Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Fess up: First Car

Yay for Katie once again!
This morning I found she had posted a photo of her first car; to English eyes a behemoth straight out of Dukes of Hazzard. Woohoo!

So …
Everyone dive for your old photo collection and dig out your very first car.
For people my age this is gonna be embarrassing, but hey.

Meet Betsy! My 1965 Ford Anglia.
The same model and colour as the one in the Harry Potter books (so I'm told), except mine only flew over humpback bridges and the occasional kerb.
Those are my old college buds Sarah and Paul standing drunk next to it, outside one of our favourite pubs on Heydon village green way back in nineteen-seventy-something.

C'mon! Dig 'em up and post 'em! Let's see who had the coolest wheels (I have to admit, so far it is Katie).

27 comments:

Anonymous said...

Funny how even across the Pond and across country all of us Blog Pals are connected. My post of today, if I could muster the energy and abitlty to see beyound the tears streaming down my face, would have been about my son and how he totaled my car last night. He is fine and yes that is all the really matters, but the shit that is now going to have to be taken care of makes my head hurt. Perhaps I will take a picture of it when I go to clean it out tonight and post it tomorrow if I have the heart.

Terroni said...

Mine was the family minivan--the grocery getter. Very sexy.

Mostly, though, I remember my first boyfriend's first car--a white Chevy Lumina. I probably spent hours making out in that damn Lumina.

Oy. That truly is embarrassing.

Anonymous said...

ha, my first car was named Betsey as well.

Katie said...

I never thought of my old Comet as a Dukes of Hazzard car, but I guess it kind of was. Too bad I lived in Minnesota when I had it, or I could have worn my Daisy Dukes more while driving it!

Katie said...

Oh and I totally love your old Anglia!

dive said...

Holy crap, Prudence!
Wow! I am so glad he's okay.
Are YOU okay?
If you need to vent some pent up stuff you know my number; I'll happily soak it up.

dive said...

T: Embarrassing is good!
Funny, too. Hee hee.

Kate: Spooky! Prudence was right about connections.

Katie: ALL American cars look HUGE to people in other countries.
Oh, my! You've just conjured an image in my mind of Daisy Duke talking with a Minnesota Nice accent. That's just too weird at this time of the morning, even for me.

And my Anglia loves you, too. Hee hee. It was tiny but kinda cute. It had as much chrome and tailfin action as postwar austerity Britain could muster.

Cheltenhamdailyphoto said...

Ohhh i'd love to but it's all in the loft and i've a busy and difficult week.

For the record, it was a gorgeous powder blue A35, i bought it for a fiver, improved it no end - scrubbed the grime off the lovely red leather seats, steam-cleaned the engine, t-cutted the body and my Dad replaced various bits of the engine - and sold it for £45 a year later. This was in 1976. I miss it.

dive said...

Woohoo! An A35! Awesome car, Lynn. My mate Andy had one. You could take out the back seat and carry it onto the beach for a picnic.

Scout said...

What a great car, Dive. It's a shame you don't still drive it around.

I don't have a photo of mine, but I'll write about it.

dive said...

It IS a shame I still don't drive it, Robyn as it would be worth money by now!

Do fess up the tale of your own first car.

savannah said...

another hunt in the picture archives! i was one of the odd girls out in cali - i didn't have a car until i was 19!!!! and i shared it with the MITM. it's funny, all we remember is that it was red! and fast. xoxox

dive said...

Ah, you crazy kids!
It sounds kinda romantic, Savannah.
xoxox

Neponset River Bridge Dig said...

Are Sarah and Paul still together. They don't look drunk. That church in the background look just like the one I attended in my old neighborhood.

dive said...

I've not seen them in decades, Rich, so I have no idea. We were always drunk, though.
You have a thirteenth century church in Boston? That's one in the eye for Chris Columbus. Hee hee.

neetzy said...

The first car I officially "owned" was a 1973 Ford LTD. It was more of a boat than a car. I hit a lot of things with it because I couldn't see over the dash or out the back window. It wasn't sexy, but it had air conditioning and a nice stereo system. Who could ask for more? I don't think I have a picture. Heck I bought it for a dollar and sold it for $50.00 a couple of years later.

Maria said...

My first car was um...big and blue. It belonged to handy man at the farm. His name was Harry and he smelled badly. So did his car when he sold it to my mother. She gave it to me as a 16th birthday gift and I NEVER was able to get the smell of fat, gassy old guy out of it.

dive said...

EWW! What a gross aroma, Maria. The lingering scent of Harry.

At least mine had a whiff of Harry Potter about it.

Lulubelle B said...

Photo and haiku now posted. Got my license at age 18. Bought my first car at at 35. Good idea for a post. Would not have thought of it on my own.

:^D

dive said...

Cool car, Lulu! I rather like that one. It doesn't look thuggish like most US cars; in places it's almost cute.

Shan said...

Oh man! I've had a picture of my first car out for so long I've probably lost it. I wanted to blog it a while back (because of the nerdiness) but at the time I had no scanner. I got one for my b-day so now if I can just figure out how to use it, I'll be in business. I like to be shown how to use things...heaven forbid I just read the manual. teehee

Your car was fabulous! I definitely liked the one on Harry Potter. Hey maybe it WAS yours!! Well, it would be a nice thought anyway.

dive said...

Go for it, Shan! Join in the "first car" embarrassment/fun.
My old car died a death decades before Harry Potter. It's nice to have it considered cool again, though.

Katherine said...

LOL! Mine was a 1979 Ford LTD, mint green with a dark green vinal top.

Katherine said...

Neetzy, you are fortunate to have purchased your boat for short money. I had to pay $1200 dollars for mine which was a lot of money when you were 17 in the 1980's.

dive said...

Cool, Katherine.
First cars are such fun.
$1,200 was a lot of money back then. I paid £300 for mine in '77.

Marie Reed said...

Ha ha! I don't drive:) I have something caled an optical nerve disorder. That traslates to bum peepers. Glasses doesn't correct it so I'm stuck hoofing it:)

dive said...

Oh, Marie! Bummer!
Having said that, you must save a lot on petrol and servicing costs and at least you won't break down fifty miles from home on a rainy night.