This is a continuation of my car stories. Cars are such an integral part of life in America. They tell many stories and remind us of past times. Here is more of my car story.
K Car
In 1981 Chrysler was barely surviving and Lee Iaccoca was pushing the K car as Chrysler’s answer to better fuel economy and improved American car quality. We ended up helping a little by purchasing a light blue Plymouth Reliant. The car was roomy and pretty good on gas. Not much power due to a low powered four banger (America hadn’t learned how to make good four cylinder engines.)
Eventually the car started developing the weird habit of just shutting off while driving down the street. After coasting to the side if you just let it sit for about 20 minutes it would start back up and run fine. It was out of warranty and the dealer wanted $700 to replace a “computer module” with no guarantee that would actually fix the problem. This was in the early days of computers in cars and $700 was a fortune back then, so we started considering a replacement.
Ford Courier
A Ford Courier was next in line. This was actually a little Mazda pickup rebadged as a Ford. It was actually a pretty good little truck. Bright red, it had almost no options. Stick shift on the floor, no air, and a basic AM radio. After only a few weeks an elderly couple smashed into it and bent the front wheel parallel to the ground. The body shop did a bad job and the fender paint never did match quite right.
Ford Tempo SVO
In the mid eighties I was a banker responsible for visiting clients all over New Jersey. I decided I needed something a little more car like, and with air conditioning! I ended up with a Ford Tempo SVO. A Tempo was a plain car but the SVO model dressed it up a little with fancy wheels and pinstripes. Hosepower was also increased slightly. I really couldn’t afford the car. Banking was somewhat prestigious, but didn’t pay well. I put on tons of miles driving for work. I got a mileage allowance but needed that money to survive, so we eventually ended up with a car with 126,000 miles on it with lots of payments left! And this was at a time when a car with 100,000 miles was considered finished.
Pinto
Sometime later we ended up getting a second car, under unusual circumstances. My Mother in Law was trading in a Pinto and the dealer would only give her $300 because the engine was blown. The car only had 35,000 miles, but had never had an oil change! I offered her the same and somehow got it home. My father managed to fix the engine with a new camshaft and assorted parts. It ran pretty well but had a terrible oil leak. I had to add a quart or more of oil every few days. It did look pretty good though – bright red with a vinyl roof, plaid seats, and a sunroof, a rarity in those days.
Unfortunately my wife was in a pretty bad accident. She was OK, but she was hit by a large car, spun around and hit a telephone pole. The car was smashed on three sides. With the Pinto’s reputation we were lucky the thing didn’t explode! The insurance company totaled it. The only good side was because of the low miles they gave us $2600, so we actually made a profit
Honda Civic
Even though a Pinto was technically a second car we really needed to replace it. We still had the Tempo with its bazillion miles. All we had to work with was the $2600 insurance check. We had no money as usual. We ended up finding a 1980 Honda Civic with about 50,000 miles on it. Hondas held their value and the dealer wanted about $3000, which was actually low due to a few little dents. We needed to come up with about another $500 and ended up financing the $500 difference on a short loan!
The Honda was a great car. It was a brown two door hatchback and very peppy with great gas mileage.. The transmission was considered an automatic but it was actually a two speed with a low range that you used up until about 30 MPH and then you moved the shift lever up into high range. But it had no clutch to depress!
We put many miles on that Honda. The odometer stopped working so I’ll never know how many miles it had on it by the end. At some point we did have a transmission replaced and the odometer started working again so when we got rid of it the odometer said 126,000 miles, but I’m pretty sure the real total was closer to 170,000 or more. That was remarkable for a 1980 car.
I should mention that rust finally finished the Civic. Early Honda’s had a reputation for rust. The engine never did quit, but with all the rust I was afraid the thing might fall apart around us. I’m convinced that little Honda would still be going if the sheet metal had lasted!
My car stories are going longer than I expected. It looks like I’ll need a Part Three or more. More to come!
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