Someone else’s Blog just inspired this….thank you Spinning Visions….

My first car. I had just got that licence….took my Drivers’ Ed class at High School,

Our neighbor had been in an accident (you can’t see the big dent on the driver’s side) so got the Newport Custom for $400, it would cost me $5 to fill the tank, which was a good thing, cause everytime I got it on a freeway the gas gauge would go down as the speedo went up.

No seat belts, bench seats, we could fit 8 students inside, and yes occasionally one more in the huge trunk.

I was the oldest in our group of friends, so the first with a car..so ep, the driver always…nope, was 18 yet so no worry about driving under the influence yet….and at that time, there wasn’t such a thing as check stops…..but yeah, a bottle of Coke was the drink of choice..

I would just drive…every Sunday I’d head out to drive around the city for hours, just listening to the radio (cassette and 8 track players weren’t a think yet) listening to whatever….

I was a fan of CKUA radio, a Sunday show called the Ritz…….that show had a huge influence on what I still listen to….jazz, folk, folk rock….Return to Forever, Yes, Fairport Convension, Richard Thompson, Chris de Burgh, Larry Coryell, you name it, they played it….while all my friends were listening to Frampton Comes Alive.

My third car…oddly I don’t have a pictire of my second, and 1978 For Grand Toreno 351 Cleveland

it kind of looked like this

Mine was really a bondo wagon with an iffy transmission, but fast..OMG….I think it didn’t cost me anymore than my first…..it was well used, if you slammed the door too hard the radio would turn off or on…..I think I only had it for about half a year, for mostly a summer…..I’d bought it without my parents knowing, and kept it hidden and would park it away from home….I’d really bought this as an anger thing after I’d skipped a few too many classes and I was forced to sell my first car……eventually the transmission died on me, and I sold it for scrap……and oddly enough never got a ticket driving it….

That third car, the 1977 Buick GS350 (Four Barrel) again fast…..and heavy…..great traction, a great auto to drive in winter…..I put in a cassette player (I hated 8 tracks) and it got me to and from work, and for playtime….I was getting tired of my friends at this point (1978/79) they were awful actually, not really friends, basically blood suckers, and I was on my way moving to Jasper and away….

It was a fun car to drive..it had it’s issues (I remember the lug nuts being rusted) and had a lot of flat tires..which I became a pro at changing…..I covered a lot of ground with this, north to Grand Prairie, south to Calgary, east to Wainwright, west to Jasper..even further east to New Battleford……..

and finally

Bought new….1979 Firebird Esprit….$7500 cash…..loved that car. actually miss it…but got married, had kids..you know….but this took me to Vancouver.

A loud Pioneer stereo (you could hear me coming miles away)…..and so comfortable to drive…I heard about John Lennon being shot…and once I got to Vancouver it just felt right, and was so me…not the Smokie and the Bandit Trans Am, I didn’t want that…I wanted cool……laid back, God that was such a good time in my life……I think I was 20, and Vancouver was the place I wanted to be…..

I’ve had a lof of cars since…..okay a Vanwagon, two mini vans,

the kids in the hood trying to get into the Windstar…one of the mini vans

a Nissan Altima,

the kids getting into the Nissan in Canmore….miss that roof rack

and now, well I love my Kona

That history with that Firebird is wow, a huge story about a change in life….1979 to 1986…single to married, Jasper to Vancouver and then to married with children……lots of live music, and a lot of life,…..I’ll make that tomorrow’s blog, but yeah this is all about me rebuilding me…I know I cannot go back to that time….but can I get back to where I was happy and life was so positive..or better than it was when I was in Edmonton