The other day M and I were out and about we we saw the new Volkswagen Scirocco. So new and shinny I couldn’t help but think of my first car. My silver 1981 Scirocco. I loved that car. My step-dad had bought the car for me for $800.00. The previous owner was a young guy who he had worked with. It had this all the way across rear view comprised of about 30 little slanted mirrors. I still don’t understand that. So it was a little tricked out but I didn’t care. I had my first car. That first day I took down the crazy rear view and put back the original, cleaned it out and found enough change to put the first tank of gas in it. Gas was about 95 cents per gallon then. I still remember the smell of the VW vinyl and the way it shined after a few sprays of Armor All. It was perfection. But I wasn’t allowed to drive it yet. It needed a new battery.
Okay, so I am 16 and I have this sporty coup sitting in the driveway and nothing to do…. well you can guess what happened next. The teenage years are so funny, you think that you know everything. And at 16 I thought that I was ready to drive this car no matter who said what. Everyone was at work and I was bored the car needed to be driven. I mean there was no other choice. So I called my friend SE told her about the dead battery and she suggested that I go ask my neighbor CB to help. He knew about cars why not.
I am not exactly sure on the sequence of events but eventually it came to us poppin’ the clutch. If you can imagine two sixteen year-old pushing this car up our shared driveway. CB was 6 foot with a white blond mullet who drove a muscle car so I am sure that he was probably wearing some kind of tank top and me I had some sort of pre Hallee Barry short hair and the girl grunge thing going on. It was the early 90’s and we were both rocking the style. So we are pushing this car up the hill and to be fair to CB I think at one point he asked me if this was a good idea. Of course it is!
Finally we were at the top and I jumped in. He gave the car a push and I popped the clutch and off I went. I drove around the back roads of that small Minnesota town and it was heaven, a freedom that I had never had. Just me and the car and the radio. That first drive in your first car. Unforgettable. Mine more so because I ended up crashing it later that day. Sigh. No one was hurt thankfully but the Scirocco was totaled and that was the end of my freedom.
The totaled car sat in our driveway for a long time. It was painful lesson learned. Hopefully getting my Italian drivers license won’t be as painful.
1981 Scirocco- exactly like mine. Pre crash.
