A little background on me: I have loved every car I ever owned. Sometimes it was love at first sight, like with the Cabriolet who I travelled cross country with. Sometimes the vehicle had to grow on me, like the noble green Subaru I call Sooby-Doo. The utility car.
My first automotive experience was with an AMC product, a blue Rambler with a bumpersticker that said "Onward Through the Fog", and pictured a cartoon character from the Furry Freak Brothers stable.
Listened to great radio in that car, the WHFS of Weasle, Bob, John and Damien. When it got a head of steam, that car could go pretty fast.
When the Blue Rambler wouldn't go up hills anymore, I got what may be my defining car-- the first of two Plymouth Valients, both green, both with a family connection. The first one had been owned by my grandparents neighbor, Mr. Heisel. He lived right across the street from them in Pineville, WV in the 1960's and '70's. Mr. Heisel was an amputee, never knew why, whether he was a veteran or an injured miner or a farm boy who fell under the plow. Well, Heisel died and I guess my grandparents got the car, and somehow it devolved to me. Automotive care-taking is a strong area for my dad. He loves to find cars and hook people up with them.
The Valient was the legendary Slant-6 engine and Heisel hadn't gone much of anywhere in it. Those cars have room to put a bicycle in the trunk. On that car I learned to check oil, change a solenoid, the air filter, and add Automatic Steering Fluid, Automatic Steering Fluid, Automatic Steering Fluid.
My first automotive experience was with an AMC product, a blue Rambler with a bumpersticker that said "Onward Through the Fog", and pictured a cartoon character from the Furry Freak Brothers stable.
Listened to great radio in that car, the WHFS of Weasle, Bob, John and Damien. When it got a head of steam, that car could go pretty fast.
When the Blue Rambler wouldn't go up hills anymore, I got what may be my defining car-- the first of two Plymouth Valients, both green, both with a family connection. The first one had been owned by my grandparents neighbor, Mr. Heisel. He lived right across the street from them in Pineville, WV in the 1960's and '70's. Mr. Heisel was an amputee, never knew why, whether he was a veteran or an injured miner or a farm boy who fell under the plow. Well, Heisel died and I guess my grandparents got the car, and somehow it devolved to me. Automotive care-taking is a strong area for my dad. He loves to find cars and hook people up with them.
The Valient was the legendary Slant-6 engine and Heisel hadn't gone much of anywhere in it. Those cars have room to put a bicycle in the trunk. On that car I learned to check oil, change a solenoid, the air filter, and add Automatic Steering Fluid, Automatic Steering Fluid, Automatic Steering Fluid.
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