No Particular Place to Go:
Four-wheeled memories
(Ray Brandes retraces his route through automobiles of his youth.)
Perhaps no single man-made artifact has captured the imagination of and helped to define the culture of the American teenager more than the automobile. Once a toy possessed only by the super-rich, in the post-World War Two economic boom the car emerged as the premiere symbol of American youth. A car provided speed, mobility, freedom — and a generous backseat — all of which allowed young people to experiment with adulthood.
And boy, do we Americans love our cars. We name them, write songs about them, and spend hours taking apart and reassembling them. As teenagers we race them, cruise in them and even spend hours parked in them.
My first car, purchased in 1980 for the even-then unbelievable price of $300, was a 1971 Pontiac Le Mans T-37 Sport. While in a few short years it would be revered as a muscle car, at the time it was about as uncool a ride as a young hipster might imagine, despite Gene Hackman’s use of the car in his high-speed chase in the movie “The French Connection.” It did, however, have four good tires and a strong six-cylinder engine.
My next car, a 1965 cherry-red Volkswagen Bug, will remain my all time favorite. The smell of a VW interior never fails to bring me back to the mid-’80s: Tell-Tale Hearts gigs at Studio 517, bonfires at Law Street beach, and hundreds of long trips to Los Angeles and back with no radio.
Fab gear! Glide rides! More Che Underground memories of speakers ‘n’ wheels
What memories do you have of your first car? What role did the automobile play in your own youth?
— Ray Brandes
More posts by Ray Brandes:
- Everybody Is a Star: The ideal supergroup
- Radio days
- “Puberty Principle”: First sonic crushes
- Helter Skelter: Tate-LaBianca at 40
- Guess who’s coming to dinner?
- My favorite things: What are you listening to?
- Footloose: Rockin’ the ’80s
- “I don’t get it”
- Me and my monkey: Guilty pleasures
- Man-eaters and mad crushes
- Our Lady of Chula Vista
- You Never Give Me Your Money: IOUs and the Che Underground
Tags: automobiles, cars, Pontiac Le Mans T-37 Sport, Ray Brandes, the Tell-Tale Hearts, Volkswagen Beetle
March 19th, 2010 at 9:21 am
Not being able to save any money then, and my parents being quite generous with letting me drive their cars around (this was before designated drivers) I drove their beige (I know) ‘68 VW Bug, also no radio, and the ‘74 VW Bus. Now that was a great car for carting people around to shows and parties and what not.
Looking at the Fab Gear! thread reminds me I had a couple Vdubs of my own, but they didn’t last long. A Fastback, which is like a Squareback but not as cool because the back is slanted, and another bug. That bug leaked a quart of oil a day when I got it, and was up to two quarts before I forgot to fill it one day and it seized up on the freeway. One time, I was the only person w/a car and we wanted to go to some party or something. So I, Sergio, Janie, Dana, Jim, Barry and maybe some others piled into it like college students in the 50’s used to squeeze into phone booths, and drove through Oceanside. I remember seeing arms and legs sticking out at odd angles and was just waiting to get pulled over by the police, but it never happened.
March 19th, 2010 at 12:53 pm
My first car was a Datsun 510 station wagon with a highly oxidized avocado green paint job. It had no second gear and an oil leak, which necessitated a case of Price Club oil at all times in the back seat. My, the stories that car could tell.
I think this car came into my life shortly after I blew out all four of the tires on my mom’s car plowing over a partition in the Ski Beach parking lot. Or the time I took her car to Von’s and forgot to take off the emergency break. Or getting pulled over in her car by the police via loudspeaker just as I happened to be passing by her work. It all blurs together…
March 19th, 2010 at 7:59 pm
My first car, in 1984, was a red ‘67 VW bug, then I saved up for a ‘71 VW bus, which I drove back to S.D. from Colorado when I turned 18. It was the middle of winter and the infamous VW heater boxes were corroded, so if I turned on the heater I was given a high dosage of carbon monoxide. It was so freezing, though, that I had to turn on the heater sometimes and roll down the windows, just to get some heat in. Paul is right, the bus rules! I lived in mine for some months shortly after high school graduation, while I saved up enough for first and last months’ rent. I worked mornings in El Cajon back then, so I used to get off work and park in front of the Wallflowers practice spot (upstairs on 30th?) and sleep until practice time, when Dave or Paul would knock on the window to wake me up. My first motorcycle was a 1975 Honda CB500, which was already a classic in 1985.
March 19th, 2010 at 9:26 pm
I had a three on the tree plymouth, I crashed my first day with it.
March 19th, 2010 at 10:25 pm
Had a great 1972 AMC Javelin that we spray painted (stolen) Navy Black. At the Mod House…bad ass ride for punks!
March 20th, 2010 at 11:54 am
(@megan: dude, did you ever get that you have to take the parking brake and let it free BEFORE you drive??? lol!)
my first car was a really uncool baby shoe ‘79 honda civic.
it would whine louder than a 2 year old after about 45 mph and eventually i had to jump start it on a hill to drive it at all. it grew ever older and more cranky until it finally blew up from a gas line leak on the day renee and i were headed to see u2 at the sports arena.
my favorite car was my grandads 70’s racing jag. it had two gas tanks, right hand driving, mahogany interior, leather seats, and an austrian license plate. i wish, to this day, that he’d given it to me. but knowing how shitty i was on cars for my first few, it’s best he didn’t.
March 20th, 2010 at 4:13 pm
You’re right, those Civic’s did look like little baby booties! My first 62 VW had no starter. As long as I had a little clear path to push start it, I was fine. It helped transport the Escondido gang to SDSU, Lions Club, SD Parties in 1981-timeframe. Traded it in for my bitchin metallic turquoise ‘65 MGB Convertible, capable of holding four high-schoolers; now I probably couldn’t fit one doughy middle-aged hipster. Sigh.
March 20th, 2010 at 5:49 pm
“doughy middle aged hipster”… haha!!! i live in oregon, and we are home to the doughy middle aged hipsters. as this one can attest to…
clear path was the key for that baby bootie… mike rice helped me rig it so i could pop the clutch after about 15 yards…
March 20th, 2010 at 6:34 pm
My first was a Vauxhall Victor exactly like this one (same color!) except left-hand drive for export.
Crashed it on the way to the Love-In 2 weeks after I got it.
Bummer…
March 22nd, 2010 at 9:18 am
he he. we used to start our Saab with a screwdriver. Just an FYI for the joy-ride inclined: you can start any Saab 900 series with a screwdriver.
March 22nd, 2010 at 4:23 pm
Correct me if I am wrong Ray. But, was your bug stolen in Balboa Park during one of our summer of 1984 “Balbs” ventures with the Mira Mesa Mini Mods crew? I do remember the Valiant that you had as well. VW’s were becoming highly sought after during the 80’s.
March 22nd, 2010 at 4:28 pm
Raise your hand if you’re on this list and you hitched a ride in the 1979 Chevy Luv pick up with the camper shell from 1982-1985. Cramped quarters? Yes. dollar gas charge? yes. Riding with 9 other teenagers in the back, without a seatbelt, and the odor of spilt Schaefer permeating the interior of the cabin?
Perhaps I should ask you to raise your hand if you did NOT hitch a ride with me to shows. Dennis Borlek, you can pay me still for gas money…
David Anderson always had the fine ride for his drum set and a few Mira Mesa mini mods. Dave Flem’s Buick Electra with no backseat accounted for many a mile to Sheldons and back.
March 25th, 2010 at 10:30 pm
question: will the mira mesa mini mods ever live down that title? (I feel for the littles…)
I saw a serious Rambler in Portland. Completely cherry. Made me miss Zoes old car. That thing was awesome.
March 26th, 2010 at 9:46 am
The cars that always sent me were those gorgeous low riders that used to circle out front of SDSH. The Virgin of Guadalupe never looked so good as she did airbrushed in purple metal flake on the hood of a 1964 Impala.
March 26th, 2010 at 10:39 am
Black velveteen steering wheel cover. That disco/salsa music. St. Christopher miracle medallion hanging from the rear view mirror.
March 26th, 2010 at 8:17 pm
Diamond in the back, sunroof top digging the scene with a gangsta lean
March 27th, 2010 at 1:28 pm
Ah, Gilberto, where are you now?
March 27th, 2010 at 8:59 pm
What? Like, “Little Sarah”?
March 29th, 2010 at 11:30 am
Little Anthony
April 1st, 2010 at 8:19 pm
Little Eva
April 1st, 2010 at 9:11 pm
Little Bo Peep
April 2nd, 2010 at 4:43 pm
Little bit a soul…
Mine was a Dodge Vegematic, there in the parking lot…
April 2nd, 2010 at 7:04 pm
Turkey Trot!