Being Sentimental about a Car

This is my aunt, Lou Buckingham, singing about her favorite car, a Valiant:



A friend of mine is sad to lose a car this week. I think we've all been there. My favorite car, that I still miss, was a '79 Pontiac Bonneville. It was a boat. Everyone got out of my way, wherever I went. I could merge into traffic in the space of ten feet. It was brown with a Lando top. Tan interior. Once, I fell asleep in the back of it on my coffee break, woke up disoriented, and snuck back into work at Sears. No one seemed to notice I'd been gone for an hour or so. It was the kind of car you could stretch out in the back of and take a nap. It had some after-factory upgrades. It was, you know, my ride.

I always drove it with the windows open. I can almost still feel the wind.

2 comments:

  1. Mine was a 77 Monte Carlo with a red Lando top and red captains chairs. The body was more bondo than steel and you could fit your head through some of the rust holes in the quarter panels. I might have gotten 8 miles to the gallon (350 v8 engine), but I still took it on long drives into Pennsylvania after work and tried to convince my 17 year old self that one day I would keep driving until I hit Pittsburgh. I only got as far as Scranton, which is nowhere near Pittsburgh. Yes, I'm a little sentimental about that car.

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  2. I think we bought the Bonneville in Pittsburgh for $600.

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