Did you catch this week’s Car Talk, featuring Tom and Ray’s long-suffering mom, Elizabeth? It’s a staff favorite, with some really touching moments, in our humble opinion. If you missed it, listen online. Lizzie was one of a kind. But then again, it would take a rather special mom to raise two guys like our humble hosts.
What about your mom and her mom-cars, over the years? Any great stories to share? We want to hear 'em! Share your thoughts on Lizzie, or your own moms-'n-cars stories right here. And thanks.
The one thing I remember about my mom and cars was, she stopped driving when she married my dad. But, according to him, it never stopped her fom telling him how to drive for the next 50 years of marriage. She always did it with good humor though. The one line I remember that I will never forget was at 94 when she said me, “I wish I were young again with all these aches and pains as you get older. I felt so much better when I was 90.”
The only car story involving my late mother has to do with her car preference. She absolutely loved the old full size, land yacht station wagons and was irritated to no end with their disappearance.
She swore that “everybody wants one” and was puzzled as to why they could not be found at the car
dealers.
She also flat refused to believe me when I told her repeatedly that the market for cars like that is simply not there and “everybody” would have to mean more than a dozen or so people.
As a kid my mom would drive me to football or baseball practice or something, and she’d always stop to buy gas along the way. I remember exactly what she’d say to the attendant: “Please give me $2’s worth, check the oil, and please check the tire pressure in all 4”!
An attendant who actually helps you at the gas station? $2’s worth of gasoline? Free oil check and tire pressure check?
I’m not making this up. The early 60’s was a different time in America.
Oh yeah, Mom. I always put cut flower out on her and my grandmothers graves for Mothers Day.
My Dad commuted so often at night Mom and I would go get gas in the car for the next day. Guess I was 13. We’d take the long way around though through the fair grounds where she’d let me drive. She was a good driver though and still remember our 50 mile trip on glare ice but we made it. One day she pulled out of the garage and the neighbor tried to flag her down. She had hooked a 50 foot black garden hose on the front bumper and was dragging it down the street. Then of course there was the time she forgot to open the garage door before backing out. Only needed one section replaced and the parts were in stock so no big deal.
Guess you had to be there. The problem with getting older is all the people you miss.
Dear ol Mom, yup she really knew how to entertain my sis & I. After her 3rd mid life crisis she decided she just HAD to have a new 1960’s T-Bird convertable. One day after coming home from school i was amazed to see a shiny new yellow T-Bird in our driveway i thought WOW! COOL! She really got one! When my sis got home from school too, Mom sez "hey how would you kids like to go for a ride in a really “Fast” thunderbird? Well duh! Yea of course. On the hwy with the top down i felt like mom had us at the top of her list, it was off the paved road i had to rethink that! She closed the convertable top ( bcuz of the dust) turned on to a well maintained long straight run of gravel road and punched it. That car felt like a rocket, all of a sudden at what felt like 70 mph mom yells out in an extremely loud but firm voice " Both you kids get down on the floor… NOW…RIGHT NOW!! We did …seconds later i saw the entire white convertable top get ripped completely off. After mom stopped the car she said " you kids O.K …we were fine. What she showed us was hard to believe, someone had temporarily ran a 3 row strand of barbwire fencing across the gravel road to contain some loose cows, & mom couldnt see it until the last minute, she said the 1st two rows of barbwire slid over the winsheild and literally sawed off the convertable top,she told us to duck for that reason.
Mom was never a bad driver nor was ever careless with anyone. That incident scared her so badly she parked her new T-Bird for the next 3 years and never drove it again, we laughed with her about it years later, she didnt…& a tear would well up in her eye as she patted us kids on the head & would say “mom did a very foolish thing that day.” Years later she told us some guy saw the T-Bird sitting in the driveway & offered her a $1000. She sold it on the spot, when i asked her why she wld give away a classic car so cheap she replied " I left that car undriven there many years to remind me daily of how foolish i was and to never take chances again. The money wasnt as important as you kids were to me. We loved her for that & her sacrifice.