A few days ago I was on my daily walk about. I was standing beside this white sign post when this really strange old FORD car pulled up in front of the SMOKE SHOP... Four young guys jumped out and asked IF I would keep an eye on their car because it was parked in a NO PARKING SPACE! Not really thinking I said, "of course but, you've left it running. How in hell long are you gonna be gone?" "AH MATE! We are simply going into the head shop to buy STUFF!" They did shut the doors because the inside of the car was full of all kinds of STUFF! Emty water bottles, old emty sacks of McDonald's long ago eaten meals, pillows, sleeping gear... it was a mess. MY MIND FROZE! I lived in many cars like this years ago!
My first car was a 1955 Fairlane Ford. Blue. My Uncle Melvin's car. It was in MINT CONDITION.
My brother helped me purchase it. We had that car until I was 19. Then the white VOLX WAGON BUG... nice little car. Great on the petrol and fun to drive... I then bought a flash Buick! I could not afford the payments. I sold it. From the Buick I found a perfect Robin Egg Blue Volx Wagon Bug. The kid that owned it was leaving on a Mormon Mission... this little ROBIN became my santuary, my chapel, my bedroom, my means to all life sources. I drove it from LA to TX many times... I loved this wee thing. It loved me. Then one night in a blizzard a drunken Indian hit me on 25th St. in Ogden Ut.
Bye Bye the pretty egg hatched into insurance money!
I simply could not replace that car!!! I used the UTA to go anywhere I wanted plus many friends that had cars and I did use my thumb many times to get to and from places I had to be... Finally I purchased my aunts white Chevy with a Vynal top... I turned this car into a storage shed.
In the 70's I would disappear from family and friends for months then show up at my parent's home. My sisters would dig into this cavern of hidden mysteries and CLEAN IT BEYOND IMAGINATION... I loved this car. I had bumper stickers all over it: DON'T SHOOT THE PIANO PLAYER! IF YOU THINK THIS CAR IS BAD YOU SHOULD SEE MY MOTHER'S. QUESTION AUTHORITY! MAKE LOVE NOT WAR! HONK IF YOU FEEL HORNY... OMG the things I attached to that car. Then I found the sticker of all time: BORN TO BE WILD!
A friend of my mother's told her that the car looked like a transit Mexican Fruit Picker's car was parked in their drive way. My mother was and still is very defensive of me but, she did ask IF possibly I could park it on the other side of their car port?
I finally purchased a Ford Pinto from my Brother. The Golden Egg. It was in mint condition when I bought it... the end of the first year??? I did have friends that kept it running. I had that car when I moved to Alpine WY. It was running on two cylinders... not very stable tires and a cracked windsheild. I was THREATENED NOT TO TAKE IT TO WY! One must realize during the 70's the lovely Chevy I had: well, I was not allowed to park it at the Govenor's Mansion in SLC. I was the Gov's Pianist. The staff kindly asked me not to pull up to Velet Parking and present my keys... WTH?
Lucy Rampton, Govenor Ramptons wife would send a driver for me! Hell, I wore a tuxedo, rather handsome young man INA UGLY CAR????
When I saw this painted Ford car I could only think of my past! The words from a old Beatles song kept ringing through my head: "Baby you can drive my car, YES I'm gonna be a STAR!, baby you can drive my car and maybe I'll LOVE YOU!" Well only the moon and stars know about my love life inside and out of cars!!!
I have forever loved a certain line from a poem: THE BEAUTY OF MEN NEVER DIES BUT DRIVES A BLUE CAR THROUGH THE STARS...
One thing I would have written differently on the back of the Ford's bumper Born To Offend: BORN TO BE WILD!
Cars express a lot about who and what we are. I now drive a Toyota Truck. And No other car except my dad's old ford pickup. It is a 6 cylinder... 24 years old no power steering... standard gears... neat. It turned 31000 miles when I drove it up to WY last summer... AMAZING! I am updating it with new tires, a totem in the back, new everything... he sits in my garage in Alpine longing to be driven to the market and post office. I named it Ennis. He is a strong little beast. SO IS THE TOYOTA.
I kind of miss the years I lived in tents, sleeping bags, little propane cook stoves, styrofoam coolers full of ice and all kinds of drinks and meats... veggies... inside the CARS! Coats, clothing, toiletries... life was really not so bad then.
I was on a very intense journey. A MAJOR LEARNING ADVENTURE. I think I learned some of the lessons. I spent many nights on the hoods or roofs of the cars I've talked about gazing at the stars and moon... Venus and Mars... I even witnessed a few other things in the heavens. I NOW Thank HEAVEN for those cars! In my old age I drive CLEAN SAFE CARS? Well, sometimes. Ask my kitchen help how many times I backed poor Ennis onto rocks and hit a few hidden trailers and trucks! I think I must USE my FEET MORE! LEGS? EYES? Cars 'n Stars.
