I came across this stack of photos while cleaning my dresser today. They always take me back to some really good times…
My first car was this 1964 Triumph Spitfire. I bought it when I was 16. I had money saved up from my paper route and my first real job as a floor-mopper and dishwasher at Friendsview. The entire front end, including the fenders lifted up. It had a soft top, hard top, and a tonneau cover (a flat snap-on vinyl cover with a zipper up the middle). I put that on if I was out without the top and it started to rain.
My second car was this 1968 Chevy Camaro RS. I bought it off a used car lot when I was 17. It had a 327 engine, and had a Holley 4-barrel double pumper carburator, hood scoop, and very large mags on the back. A true muscle car! Another very cool feature was the vacuum operated headlight covers. That’s me in my Texaco shirt! I worked there my Junior year in high school, and a lot of my paycheck went for gas!
I bought this 1972 Honda 600 Sedan when I was 18. (By the way, the 600cc engine is a little over 36 cubic inches — a little more than one-tenth of the Camaro’s 327 engine!)
It was one of the first cars made by Honda, and the air-cooled engine really looked like an adapted motorcycle engine. The gear shift came out of the dash. It had 12″ wheels, one of which I peeled off the rim going around a corner! I drove this car my senior year, and I was an auto parts salesperson at Newberg Auto Parts.
It was very small… Several times when I got out to my car after school, I would find it either high-centered it on the curb (front wheels off the ground) or the guys would pick it up and turn it sideways in the parking spot!
I sold it to help pay for my year of Bible College in Germany and Austria.
I bought this 1965 Austin-Healey Sprite in 1980. I was 19. It was my main car until 1986. The last time I drove it was as the get-away car at our wedding. (We didn’t take it on our honeymoon!) It was a fun car, but like most old British cars, it always needed a lot of attention! (The biggest problem was keeping its dual carburators synchronized.)
I bought this 1957 Chevy short-box pickup from a guy that worked in a Chevrolet body shop. It was in excellent condition, with newly-chromed bumpers, grill, and running boards. I sold it in 1983 because I needed money to continue college, and the Sprite got better mileage. Of all of these vehicles, this is the one I wish I still had!
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