What was your first car?

My first car was a 1989 Honda Civic. My dad had kept it in tip-top condition and it ran great. The trouble was in the lack of power steering, power windows, air conditioning and the ever dreaded to a 16 year old driver – the clutch. The worst part of the lack of features in the car was that the manufacturer didn’t re-do the dashboard with just a few buttons. No, there were blank grey boxes all over the dash as a reminder that this car has absolutely nothing fancy about it. 

Given that this was going to be my car to drive to school, my father taught me to drive in it. I have vivid memories of his frustration to my lack of getting the hang of the clutch as we circled around and around in an empty church parking lot over and over and over again. The poor man must have had such a headache after all the jerking and hard stops as I tried to learn to drive a stick shift. I remember one day he got so frustrated that he left me in the church parking lot and walked home. He told me to figure it out on my own and drive home. I guess I figured it out that day because I don’t have any recollection of him returning to save me.

My sisters and I all drove this car at one point or another. We dubbed the lack of air conditioning ‘sweaty back syndrome.’ The only way to survive driving this car in the summer was to put your hair in the tightest ponytail possible, wear a tank top, roll down all the windows and hope you didn’t sweat every last bit of makeup off before you arrived at your destination.

This car was a full on workout just to make a sharp turn, all while you’re staying nice and sweaty. You could just forget about making a u-turn; not even possible for a little 16 year old girl. I think you would have had to have pumped some serious iron to be able to maneuver that! If you have ever driven a car without power steering, you know what I mean.

But, just like every 16 year knows—all I cared about was that the car ran and got me around.

What was your first vehicle? Do you have any funny memories from when you learned to drive? Share them with us!