If you weren’t bored with my first post on this, here is the second installment of “History of John’s Cars.”
1982 Buick Skylark – Though I only had this car a short time, we did have some interesting times with it. My Dad came up with this car for me after I tore up the ball joints and bent a tie rod on my Lemans. It was too expensive to fix, so he gave me the Skylark to drive. No mods were added to this car. It had a crappy radio, but at least it had a cassette and more than one speaker. Facts and stories about the Skylark:
-The first time I was pulled over was in the Skylark. What did I do? Well, I was approaching Dixie Hwy on Maybee Road and I pulled around the line waiting to turn left to get into the right turn lane. I had 2 of my wheels on the shoulder and 2 on the pavement. This IS illegal and some Oakland County Sheriff saw it, pulled me over and wrote me a ticket. I fought the ticket and she didn’t show up, so no fine and no points! Woo Hoo!!
-My first accident was in this car also. Something most people don’t know, Stu was in the truck that ran in to me. It was really just miscommunication. I’ll let Stu comment on this one.
-Trevor and I drove to Canada for a friend’s birthday party. What we forgot was that we had 2 BB Guns in the car with us. It was a little scary coming back into the US when they asked us if we had anything to declare.
-This car was affectionately known as the Sky Chicken.
1986 Ford Escort Wagon – When my sister turned 16, my dad gave the the Skylark to my sister and I got an Escort Station Wagon. It was my first attempt at driving a stick. It went well and really has contributed to making me the driver I am today. The radio in the Escort left a lot to be desired, so I bought a Sony detachable face radio. Boy did I feel cool.
-My Dad bought this car for $800 from a guy who won it in a card game.
-Shortly after I got the Escort, it started to hesitate like it was going to die. It didn’t do this all the time, but it did it enough to warrant taking it to AC Tire for diagnosis. They couldn’t find anything wrong with it, so I took it home. My dad finally took it to see if he could find anything wrong and the car wouldn’t act up. He got brave one day and decided to drive it to the airport. Long story short, it died on I-94! The car made a believer out of him. He had it towed to a repair shop where they replaced the fuel pump.
-Stu and I got hassled one night by a South Lyon cop who thought we flipped him the bird. I vaguely remember this, so maybe Stu can refresh my memory.
That is it for today. Next time we will cover my 1991 Grand Am and maybe the 1996 Golf. I believe that I have pictures. Everyone loves pictures
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
So I have to post on this one, since you did hand over the Skylark to me when I turned 16. As empowering to a kid as it is to get a car for their birthday, it really sucks when you have to get it after your destructive older brother. By the time I got the Skylark it was only a fraction of the car it once was, and that isn't saying much. The first day I drove it to school it DIED on me as I was turning off of M-15 onto the residential street that ran into the school parking lot. Not a good thing when your power steering goes out. That was just the beginning. The name of the car went from being the Sky Chicken to Redrum. Tom Downs helped name it after one ride and for the rest of the time I had that car most friends would walk up to me and do the "redrum! redrum!" and wiggle their finger.
Oh man... this is like reliveing the childhood again...
OK. I'll post about these cars and post on the other one in a sec.
Skylark -
Yes, the accident. Well. We were stopped at a light in the right turn lane and John is in front of me. I'm in my 93 Dakota truck. The light is red and John lurches forward as if he is going ot turn. I look to the left and it look clear to me so I eased off the clutch to roll and -BOOM!- right in the tailight.
We were close to John's grandma's house so we drove there to call the Oakland Co Sheriff and file a report. An hour later a county mounty rolls by and said... "We can't do that, it's a Waterford Police issue." Thanks for not telling us on the phone, knucklehead.
We figured it was mid-afternoon and didn't want to rush, so we went up the next day. Filing the report was cake, up till the part where the cop asks John if he wants to press charges... ... ...uh, John, you really had to think about it???? Finally, he said no and we were on the way. To this day I feel bad for Mandy getting that car after the little incident... :(
Escort - I remember the guy's name now...Junior. HA!!
We were on the road to South Lyon and this car was being stupid so we passed it on the two-lane and made a... comment, gesture, or both... to the driver. Well the next car coming the other way was a South Lyon cop. I'm in the driver's seat and this cop makes a U-ie speeds right up behind us for about 10 seconds, then jams on it and passes us. Needless to say, that sucked.
The other one I remember was going to Canada (where else?) at about 3 in the morning cause me, John, Skunk, Darrin, and I think Jamie were hungry. Where else you gonna go for food at 3AM? Not in Michigan, of course...
Drove down and nothing was open there either, so we came back and went to Greektown. Parked the car and went to the only 24 coney place open. Honestly, I thought we were gonna get shot. The booth behind us was a 6'7" pimp w/ a couple lady friends, then two dudes walk in with their (p)leather jackets and casing the place. I remember the taller one had a little battery radio tied in his belt. The pimp wanted the "flamin' s&%t!" (saganaki). Getting harrased when getting back to the car was interesting too. Some dude wanted cash for the 2 Stroh's we was carrying, he spit on the windshield and started wiping it with his coat and wanted money for that too... what a night.
I'll do the other post now... good stuff man.
Ok, people at work are wondering what the heck I am doing laughing out loud. Ahhh...the memories. Keep em coming!
yeah, check the other post too. There are a ton of stories...
Raiding Kovo's house w/ the "rice burner" and that whole fiasco.
Camping out in the backyard and sneaking out to return to your dad in his "glory".
One word - "Salad-Man"
Rumble with the "Muffin"
...I'm laughing pretty hard right now... good stuff.
Oh yeah, forgot about the "day trips" to Toronto in the Golf and taking video of the Mackinac Bridge... in the winter... in a LeBaron convertible... with the top down.
Post a Comment