cars i have owned, part 2

this is a picture of a 1977 ford granada. it is an accurate representation of my own granada, only prettier.

a month after i had graduated high school, mom and dad finally came through with some help to get a car for me. i was spending what little money i had traveling to bmx races. dad no longer traveled with me, as his health was really declining, so i was left to beg, borrow, and hitchike to races in new york and florida and michigan. so, it made sense that i have a car so i could get there on my own.

june, 1985. dad had talked to a woman he knew at the grocery store and she said she had a car for sale. 1500 smackers for an 8 year old car with 35,000 miles on it. didn't sound bad, i thought. and, it was a ford with a v8, bonus!

ah, not so fast. when we pulled up to check it out, i was put off a bit by it's color, a brutal baby blue with a dark blue vinyl roof. baby blue. well, i could handle it. upon closer inspection, i saw some of the trademarks that would cause it to take on the nickname, SPOT. you see, every time SPOT would get a nik or scratch in the paint, the old lady would take a can of genuine Ford touch up paint, in a spray can, and blast away. the touch up paint didn't match, and she didn't wipe the giant runs off as they made their way down the body.

on a brighter note, the interior was cherry, in that old-blue-slippery-vinyl kind of way.

the test drive revealed that precious pinging that 70's Fords were notorious for. "That's just the belts knocking!' the old lady's decrepit husband barked. fine. we'll take it.

the 302 was anemic, sucked as much oil as it did gas, but it could wail on the tires when necessary. and it was OFTEN necessary. i drove SPOT like i stole her. and, it never did get us to any out of town races....it drank too much gas and nobody wanted to share a ride and the gas costs.

in the end, i learned how to change oil, plugs, brakes, bushings and taillight bulbs while i owned ol' SPOT. i sold her for $300 3 years later after the transmission had gone waaaay south and the spark knock had put a hole in piston number 4. not a bad investment, any way you look at it.