"...to seek and to find the past, a lineage, a history, a family built on a flesh and bone foundation."

Monday, October 4, 2010

The Blue Bomber, my first car

Thanks so very much to Texasblu at Sharing a Slice of Life, Hummer at Branching Out Through The Years, and Carol at Reflections From the Fence for the idea of writing about memories associated with our cars.

When I was fifteen I couldn't wait to get my driver's license. I thought that my sixteenth birthday would never arrive. On the day of my sixteenth birthday, along with three friends, I went straight to the DMV to take my learner's permit test. Over the next three weeks I took six driving lessons from an accredited school, so that I could get a break on the cost of insurance, and then took the exam to get my license. I passed with flying colours, and was absolutely thrilled because my first car was already sitting in the driveway just waiting for me. It wasn't a gift from my parents; it was there because I had earned every penny of the $800 it cost to buy it, and I had made my dream come true.

My birthday falls at the end of the summer, and all that summer before the big day I had worked really hard in order to earn enough money to augment my savings and buy the Blue Bomber. At the age of thirteen I had already been dreaming about the day I would have my own car, and so I applied for and was hired to work as a 'page' at the Public Library. The accepted age for teen employment at the time was sixteen, so I had to get a letter of permission from my parents indicating that they were okay with my working after school and on weekends. Over the next three years I saved every penny I could. I kept telling my dad I was going to buy my own first car. I don't know if he understood how determined I was, because whenever I would talk about it a skeptical little smile would come across his lips.

During the summer before my sixteenth birthday I took on a second job working at a pizza parlor. One night when I was on my way home I spotted the Blue Bomber in a used car lot. On its front windshield '$800' was painted in big bold numbers. I knew I would have enough money to buy it, and so over the next couple of weeks I harassed my dad into going with me to look at it. Eventually he agreed. He 'borrowed' the car from the lot to have a thorough safety inspection done. When he was satisfied I wouldn't kill myself in it, he capitulated and signed off on the documents; however, he did insist that before I bought it the dealer would have to "put new rubber all the way around" (translation: 4 new tires). The dealer agreed. I didn't have a chequing account, so he went with me to the bank to get a certified money order on my account for exactly $800.00.

The only existing photo of the Blue Bomber (unfortunately poor quality)
This photo from stevesnovasite.com shows a beautifully restored version of a 67 blue Chevy Nova

I Loved that car! It was a 67 Chevy Nova, an old clunker in the eyes of many of my friends, but a dream car to me. I have so many happy memories of road trips in that car. Of course, my dad said that once I had a car I would never have any money for anything else, and he was right. Between insurance, gas, and service sometimes it seemed like a money pit, but I didn't care because for me it meant freedom.

Coming up on Fizzy Friday: The Blue Bomber, Part 2: a.k.a Sometimes Fathers do know best.

All Photographs ©Copyright J. Geraghty-Gorman 2010

4 comments:

  1. My first car was a new 1968 VW Beetle. I bought it after i graduated from Nursing School. Got about 30 mpg and went like a mountain goat in the snow. The only problem was it only came with a manual transmission and I refreshed my shifting skills very quickly.

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  2. Do you have a scanner that can take that red out? and restore it a bit? If not...mine does, I could play with it a bit....would need a file sent tho...I do that with mine and then decide which one I like best.

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  3. Hi Holly, Thanks for the offer, but the awful photo is actually as good as it gets. I use an Epson V700 scanner (which is normally great for improving anything) and Aperture 3 photo software by Mac, but I also fed this one through an Olympus programme, and even photographed the photograph with both my Olympus digital SLR and my Sony digital camera. Out of approximately 14 versions (both scanned and photographed) this one was the best result. So, I'll just have to remember the Blue Bomber as she was. Cheers! Jennifer

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  4. Very, VERY, cool - I love the Blue Bomber! I had a Ford Escort, a Mini (for my 21st and cute!), a Ford Fiesta (dull) then a Vauxhall Cavalier which was so heavy I couldn't park it in town. Thankfully now I have control over what I choose to drive!

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Cheers, Jennifer

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