The day my mother announced she was buying a new car, I was so excited!  Until she brought it home and I discovered it was quite possibly the ugliest car I had ever seen - a 1960 Mercury Comet Station Wagon, white with blue wheels!  But it was what I learned to drive in – a 3-speed on the column.

On Sunday afternoons, my mother and I would go over to the Northgate Mall to drive around the empty parking lot and practice my diagonal parking.  From there, it was onto the streets and even Highway 101.  But my biggest challenge was driving over White Hill going to and from Woodacre where my aunt lived (another good practice location).

Just before I was to get my license, my mother, thankfully, decided to purchase a second car for me to tool around in – a brown 2-door 1959 Chevy BelAir with automatic transmission – I thought I was in heaven! 

But now I had to learn to parallel park this beast and the preferred locale for that task was the street between Mt Olivet Cemetery and the old Lucky Store on Las Gallinas Avenue (across from the mall).  With that mission accomplished, I was off to pass my driving test and begin life as a “car owner.”

Of course, all that was required at my end was to put in gas, change the oil, and keep the car clean, which I did faithfully.   I did much better, however, after I learned that if you only put in a dollar’s worth of gas that small amount rolls to the back of the tank when you drive up a steep San Rafael hill.  I kept trying to explain that I had “plenty” of gas in the tank so why did my car stall out?  Needless to say I learned my lesson about the fuel line being at the front of the tank and started putting $2 worth of gas in when I “filled” up.

What I enjoyed most about that car was rolling down all the windows (there were no window posts) and cranking up the rear speaker of my AM radio – how cool was that?!

I drove that car from 1967 until after graduation when my mother decided to trade it for a 1964 blue Rambler station wagon and that’s a whole other story!

Now I drive a “boring” 2004 white Toyota Avalon with all the bells and whistles.  It’s not very stylish but it’s big and comfortable (like my old ’59 BelAir) and I don’t worry quite as much about going up steep hills when I only have an eighth of a tank of gas!

For fun, Von and I go around town in his 1970 Ford Mustang fastback which he purchased on May 1, 1970 in San Antonio, Texas.  With a 3-speed manual transmission, a temperamental clutch, and no power steering or air conditioning, it is sometimes a challenge.  But driving with the windows down and listening to the rear speakers cranked up brings back many fond memories of my early driving days.