When I talk about my first car it brings back a lot of memories and I'm always compelled to tell this story.
I got REAL lucky. My Dad's job had been up-and-down over the years. The area we lived in is economically depressed in GOOD times. In the '80's it was a disaster. Work was always uncertain due to layoffs, the company (a copper mine) changing hands, strikes, etc. I was probably the only kid in grade-school who could tell you the price of copper per pound on any given day of the week. When Jan Tucker came on WMPL to give the Ontonagon news, you can bet conversation stopped until we knew what was going on at the mine and what copper was selling for that day. We lived and died by it.
So along comes my HS graduation in 1989. Things had been going well - Dad had been working steady for nearly 5 years with no layoffs(!). One day Dad got a huge unexpected payout from work: They had been running Employee-Owned and a big German mining company came along and was buying them out. My Dad got a check the likes of which the family would never see again, but it would be impressive even nowadays. Back then it was almost like a lottery win.
So my Mom - being the type that doesn't waste a nickle and can squeeze every last cent out of a dollar - divided the bonus up as such: The majority would go to a 401(k) retirement account. Because the work situation hadn't been good Dad didn't have much saved up. This payout fixed that problem instantly. The next part would go towards tearing down the little hovel of a building they had on their "camp" (75 feet of waterfront property about 15 miles away from our house) and building a proper cottage.
One last portion was used to me a car. (The logic being that I needed a vehicle to drive to college and my $3.35/hr part time job at the grocery store wasn't going to pay for much of anything.) I was told I had a $10K budget. Go shopping and if they approve, it's mine. It has to be new because they don't want a rig in constant need of repair.
So as I was finishing the test drive of a Ford Escort Pony at the local Ford dealer, I pulled back into the lot and parked next to a sporty looking thing that had the same price tag on it as the Pony. It was a Mustang LX Hatchback.
It took some convincing to talk my parents into it - RWD in snow country isn't the most practical thing - but in the end I won out: A black 1989 Mustang LX 5-speed/4-cylinder with Option Package 240B (power windows, locks, and remote trunk release), A/C, and rear defrost. We had to special-order it to get the manual transmission version (the automatic was even more anemic if that was possible). A month of waiting seemed an eternity.
It had no power at all, but it sure was nice to look at and fun enough to drive back in the day. It will always be the best car I ever owned. The memories made in that care are priceless to me. I met my wife in that car, made my first road-trip in that car, and got my first job as an Engineer in that car.
The first summer I had it, I washed and waxed it EVERY weekend. I'd put off doing things with friends if the car hadn't been detailed yet that weekend. Dad always said he swore the thing had 1/4" hard shell of turtle wax covering it.
I sold it in 1995 for roughly enough to pay the sales tax on a new F150. It was sad to see her go, but she was pretty well worn down to the nub.
If you go through all of the old books and manuals in my basement, you just might stumble across a very worn out brochure for the 1989 Mustang. Please don't throw it out. I'm still saving it.
