We Are What We Drive Part 2

Growing up in a small town in Illinois wasn't very exciting. It was the desire of most teenagers to want their own car. A car meant we could find or create our own fun. We didn't want to have to ask our parents to use their Bonneville or Mercury- we wanted our own freedom. I especially needed a vehicle because I lived about six miles out of town. It was tough to get my friends to spend precious gas money to come pick me up.

By the time I was 15 I was already shopping around for the perfect car to buy. Of course my parents would have to help because I only had a little money saved up. I searched the classified and tooled through the used car lots with my older driving friend. At the time I liked old classic cars from the late sixties. I thought an old GTO would be perfect. My parents thought differently. When the day arrived for a car, my money already spent on concert tickets, my father bought me a 1977 Impala for $400. The car was the ugliest thing in town. Lime green cracked vinyl roof, rusted avocado green body, torn bench seats, Am/FM radio with blown out speakers, but still it would have to do. I stuck some Grateful Dead stickers on it, bought a tape deck, wired up some old stereo speakers, pinned-up the sagging roof fabric, and placed some blankets over the seats. It was good to go.

Looking back the car was an environmental nightmare. It leaked and burned about a quart of oil a day and got around nine miles to the gallon. My friend and I actually drove the thing up to the UP of Michigan to go camping when we were sixteen. I don't even want to think about how many gallons of gas we consumed on that trip.

In retrospect, for $400 the car took me many places and gave me some good times- concerts, road trips, awkward romantic experiences, and of course freedom. So what did the car say about me? Poor? Whitetrash? Hippie kid? Yeah, the innocence of youth.
The only picture I could find of the beast. Taken during a camping trip to northern Wisconsin with my friend when we were 16, in June 1993.