Hi Folks,
We’ve been thinking about summer car stories and memories. Do you have fond memories of a certain time period with a favorite car? I suppose there could be bad memories, too, but let’s start with the fun stuff. A couple of staffers have shared stuff like going to get ice cream in a cool convertible that was only pulled out for such trips. Or, strapping an inflatable alligator to the roof of a bug and heading to the beach.
Anyone?
Favorite summer car stories. Summer before my senior year of HS. Driving to a lake to swim, sometimes after dark. Then cruising the local drive in restaurants with mini-stoplight drag races. Getting caught in the rain with the top down at drive in movies. Much like the movie American Graffiti. Of course senior year meant driving to football games.
BTW, blow up my avatar.
The summer after graduating high school I bought a well worn 1960 Morris minor. Due to a carb problem or other ailments, it could be hard to start and required pushing and popping the clutch. We took it to the drive inn movie one night and afterward it wouldn’t start. So we pushed it down the hump and up over the next one and down again popping the clutch going down the hills. After about three or four attempts it started. Sold the car before school started in the fall.
In 1985 my wife and bought a new car. A Merkur XR4Ti. We took this car to Mid-Ohio for the 24 hour Escort Endurance series race for showroom stock cars. Since Mid-Ohio is a park-like setting we decided we’d camp in the infield next to another couple of race fans. We set up a tent to get a little sleep in the middle of the night - the cars had to run stock mufflers so it wasn’t too noisy.
We walked through the paddock at the start of the race. There were lots of cars similar to the race cars parked near the teams. Many were already on jackstands to donate their wheels for the installation of race tires for the teams to use during the long race. As the evening went on, these cars lost more and more parts… Brake rotors, suspension parts, a fender here and bumper there. Some of the cars bore manufacturer’s license plates from Michigan or Ohio. Clearly back-door support from Ford, GM, Honda and Chrysler.
During a stroll through the garage area at one in the morning, we see teams swapping entire engines. Hey, 24 hours is along time and championship points matter! Time for a bit of a nap in the tent. It got a little cool that night. When I reached over to touch my wife about 6 am, I realized she was gone. I exit the tent and look around. I find her sleeping in the back of the Merkur hatchback. It was warmer, quieter and apparently more comfortable than the tent!
A call came out early the next morning on the PA asking the crowd to donate a right front knuckle for a Toyota MR2. The team promised to re-install it shortly after the race end. A girlfriend of one of the competitor’s race mechanics stepped up and offered the knuckle to one very happy MR2 race team per the announcer. A round of applause ensued!
As the laps would down towards the 3pm finish, one British Racing Green TR8 came back out on track just to run a couple of laps and take the checkered flag. The car had a long race history but had been in a serious accident in the middle of the night. The car was clearly very bent when it appeared on track… but it was running! The organizers let the TR8 take a slow farewell lap after the checker with its entire crew piled on for a last lap before being permanently retired.
The Merkur turned out to be a decent place to sleep and a reminder that my wife does NOT camp!
Love the photo! Is that the restaurant?
I got a brand new Chevrolet Cavalier for my high school graduation, which was in June of many years ago.
The mall in my town was putting on a 4th of July fireworks show in the parking lot. We too my new car to the show. Had a bunch of friends in the backseat.
Somehow during the show, I guess somebody got out of the backseat and managed to put a pretty good scratch on the passenger side door panel of my car. Totally bummed me out on brand new car. But we had a great time at the show.
4 of us kids were playing football in the street when we saw an adult neighbor drive past in a brand-new 1964 1/2 Mustang convertible. We’d seen it on tv, but never in person. We put the football game on hold, & scrambled over to his driveway for a close-up look-see. Turned out it wasn’t his, he had just come from the Ford dealership and was taking it for a test drive. He asked if we’d like to take a ride w/him? “Yes!” we say. All four of us sit on the rear deck and he drives to the ice cream shop where he treats each to an ice cream cone. Anytime I have an ice cream cone even now, I’m reminded of this. What a great car, and generous neighbor! He must have been in a good mood, test-driving the brand new Mustang on a summer day, he was not normally quite so generous … lol …
Yes, two Porkys on Lake St in Minneapolis, another one in St Paul. All long gone.
We took a road trip from DC to Philadelphia and the Stature of Liberty for a few days before spending a couple weeks with relatives in the district, on my brother’s 16th birthday he wanted to go to Chucky Cheese so we found one in the phone book but being 1989 didn’t have GPS to tell us exactly and the guy at the front desk wasn’t sure where it was. We thought foolishly that the road would be near the town of the same name so we put at least 50mi on the rental going back and forth along the highway, finding the town that looked frozen in about 1955 and eventally found the Chucky Cheese which had closed some time before and was only carry out. Ended up at Pizza Hut and all laughed when we realized that we looked under the overpass and could see our motel. We passed in front of an old guy on his porch too many times to even think about asking for directions. Found our motel on two occasions by blind luck on that trip.
The summer before that we did 3,000mi doing a loop of the west from here to where my family homesteaded for two generations in Flagler Colorado right on I-70 just east of Limon. Had camping gear and luggage for 3 weeks in our new 88 Grand Voyager but didn’t need to put anything on the roof. Dad wired up an inverter so my brother and I could have portable tape players each and listen to our own mustc but we also had several Car Talk shows taped along with other radio programs. A memorable experience getting to see where the famliy came from.
Summer of '90 - for me right between undergrad and grad school. An old friend and I bought a used up old '72(?) Dodge Tioga (camper/van) and drove it around the states for a couple of months. Started in NY Hudson Valley. Took the southern route out west and came back via the northern.
Too much to tell, but a couple of highlights. We had not nearly enough $ to do it, but at the time he was in a half-a**ed “business” of selling '50s music at car shows and flea markets. So we had a Hemmings for car show dates and some other guide for flea markets and made $ as we went.
The Tioga got all of 8-10mpg, but luckily gas was about a buck a gallon at the time.
Worst (?) memories:
A couple of better memories:
The Tioga looked like the pasted in screen grab. Got a little tricky at times - had no gray water tank and the black water tank was a little leaky. But the best part was that when we got back, we sold it for almost as much as we paid for it to start!
May we quote you, by first name, in a story about summer car memories?
May we quote you, by first name, in a story about summer car memories? The photo too if you’re up for it?
Ok. That’s ok.
Thank you!
Sure. It’s not my photo anyway. My first name is actually Joe.
Great, thanks!
When i got my subaru wrx sti 2021!!
1971 summer camping trip in a 1964 Falcon station wagon, 144 ci straight 6, 3 speed manual. Tried to go over the nearly 10,000’ Sonora Pass but not enough power and gears too tall. I got out to push as the driver slipped the clutch and we made it over with a burned up clutch. Back then there was a very steep grade right at the top that was fixed some years later.
At a memorial service today we were told about the infamous summer wedding at the church where at the point of the "if anyone has any reason this couple should not be married please speak now or forever hold your peace’ there was a lightning strike across the street and a huge clap of thunder. What they didn’t know until after the service is that this member left her new Geo Metro convertible with the top down in the parking lot during the storm and the shelf on the dash was filled with water, including the stuffed garfield that was soaked. As I recall she drove the car for several years afterwards so I don’t believe any major damage happened to the car.
