I have always been fascinated with cars. Started when I got my first Lincoln Continental Mark I diecast car as a six year old.  Not too long after that, in the late 50s, my dad would take me every year to the Ford Rotunda for a test drive in this year’s new models.  I still remember my first ride.  It was once around the track in a 1960 Mercury Monterey in September 1959. Now 50 years later, the Mercury has been discontinued.

That is also about the time that I started to sit on the front porch and daydream about driving a new car.  I remember how fun it was every September to spot the first of next year’s models driving up Oxford street in Dearborn, Michigan,hometown of Ford Motor Company. This was of course before all the new car started to look the same.

in the spring of 1966 I enjoyed teaching myself how to drive. My parents went to New York City for a weekend, leaving us with a rather dimwitted old lady to babysit.  She didn’t notice on Saturday morning as I backed my mother’s Volvo out of the garage then proceeded to spend an hour learning how to work the clutch  as I drove up and down the driveway. Then, I was off and running so to speak.  Backed out into the street and took off to tour Berea. I enjoyed the pleasant afternoon driving all over town.  The next morning I took it up a notch!  Used my dad’s 1963 Pontiac Grand Prix to deliver my paper route. Man, I was king of the world.

Finally got to drive legally, you know with a license, in the spring of ‘67,still with  mom’s Volvo.  I loved driving that stick shift so much that I can remember the driving instructor telling my mom “this kid will never wear the brakes out” because I liked to downshift so much. The sound of the engine braking as you let out the clutch is still music to my ears. in the winter of 68 the Volvo became my car after I smashed the front end into a tree. Mom got a new Saab  and I have owned my own car ever since.