My First (Car) Love

"GhostZ" (GhostZ) 07/26/2014 at 14:05 • Filed to: None

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Yeah, let's make this a theme, first car loves. I don't have pictures, so I found an equivalent:

Back in the early 2000s I was working construction at the time. At a house we were doing some work on, they had this old beat-up Mustang sitting behind the house in a field (it was out in the middle of nowhere, like I said, not the actual picture but close). It was a 60s model with GT stripes. Near the end of the day, we asked if we could take a look at it. I was going to be driving my own car soon, so there might be some value in a project car that I could get running as my first car.

It was dirty, smelly, had rats living inside it, but all the parts seemed to be there. I Think the original paint was silver, and had two black stripes on it that may not have been stock. There wasn't any rust either, despite being exposed to the elements. The tires were all flat so it hadn't moved in ages. It had the front GT lights in the middle of the grill, both were cracked, and what appeared to be a 289. We noticed that it had a generator light instead of an alternator light on the dash, and that raised a red flag. Checking inside the door frame we found the vin and, yep, sure enough, this was a 1964 1/2 Mustang with a surprisingly rare GT package and 260 V8. It was our last day there, so I offered to buy it on the spot. It was a hardtop coupe, too. Literally one of the most rare combinations for a classic Mustang.

I fell in love with the idea of such a perfect vehicle, restoring it, and treating it like one would treat their first horse before cars were invented. It was the type of car you built at 16, and drove until you died. It was the one. Not just the first love but the one . Some of you know what I mean.

Turns out the car was owned by this old veteran and trucker who was convinced he would restore it and sell it for money. He'd been holding onto it, sitting in that field, being rained and snowed on, for 25 years, refusing to sell it to anyone.

I returned about 4 years later, driving a 1998 Mustang (which might even had been a small attempt to reach that ideal, who knows?) to see if it was still there (and, I'll be honest, to see if the old man had died and his daughter was willing to sell it) and found that it had been moved. Now, they didn't put tires on it and roll it, they hooked the front end up to a tractor and dragged it through the dirt leaving deep tracks through the ground. It destroyed the frame and tore the front half of the car away from the midsection, and it had begun to rust where the bare metal was now exposed. The engine had been disassembled for some reason (perhaps they were going to start parting it out? Not sure) and the heads were lying on either side of the car. Even if they wanted to sell it, (they didn't) it was far too gone now.

If this car was the one then it was like having my heart broken. It's like being in love with that sultry long-wavy-haired blonde who was smart as a whip and beautiful as a sunrise. You met after meeting a few times, only for her to leave you entirely and disappear, and then show up later in jail with a heroin addiction and dirty enabling boyfriend. It's just... wrong .

Had I bought it, tried to restore it, it likely would have been broken or cost too much to rebuild and have to be sold as another project later on. If that had happened, then it would just be an introduction to mechanics. But because I couldn't buy it and it was treated so poorly, it always has been something unique in my mind. You couldn't give me a perfect 1964 1/2 Mustang V8 GT and expect me to like it more, nothing will ever be as perfect as that moment when I realized what was in front of me and what it could be.

I wish I had gotten pictures of it the first time, but I didn't have a camera (or a cell phone, obviously) then. And after seeing it again, I think I was too disgusted to take photos for memory.

Sometimes I wonder if it's still there, slowly falling back into the dirt, its cracked and destroyed tires being eaten away by mice as it's engine rots from the inside out. I always wonder how different my life might be had I bought it then, or if it really would be any different. But as a memory, I think it holds more value now than it did as a car.

PetarVN, GLI Guy, now with stupid power > GhostZ 07/26/2014 at 16:27

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oh I've got one!

Back in 2008, I was just 10 years old. back then, my mom drove a 1998 opel astra 1.4. This car was getting old, and we decided it was time to upgrade. with a budget of about 17,000 Euros, we had a lot of options, chief among which was a lightly used Seat Leon Cupra. My mom loved the Cupra, but at 18,500 Euros, it was just on the edge of what we were comfortable with paying.

Enter my uncle. He's old fashioned, fat, and always thinks he's right. He bought a car too at this time, and went for an Opel Astra Classic II. this car was only 11,500 Euros at the time, since it was the end of the car's 10 year (!!!) production run. He told my mom to go take a look at one, and told her about the stellar deal. So, we went to our local opel dealer.

We decided to first walk in to the showroom that day. this was a mistake, because as soon as I walked in, I saw the love of my life sitting there.

She was painted a beautiful light blue metallic, and I could see her top down as she sat cool and collected on her rotating platform, perfectly lit by the Early summer morning light. Her 18-inch alloys wrapped in performance Michelin rubber smiled back at me, and the soft, supple cream interior beckoned me closer. I was allowed access behind her wonderful wheel, and I instantly fell in love.

There was an issue though. This beautifully designed, 200hp German sports convertible cost a whopping 22,000 Euros at the time. Way over our budget. I tried though. I begged and I pleaded, I asked the dealer if there was anything at all that we could do to get her, The new, 2008 Opel Astra Twintop. But sadly, no... it was not meant to be. We drove home in a red 2008 opel astra classic that was much worse than the beauty I fell for, and I fell hard.

(color reference picture... Also, those were the rims it wore in the showroom....)

I saw this exact car last year on my trip here. it was dirty, scratched and unloved, as some hooligan hurtled it past me and in to a roundabout. I felt sad, and I was pushed to feel a pang of guilt for not trying harder.

One day, I will bring one of these to the states. I will do it not because it's a good car, but because now, in 2014, 6 years on, I still regret the fact we didn't buy this wonderful machine.