My First Car

This is my 1966 Dodge Dart. It is the very first car I ever owned. Right around graduation time, I had been talking with my parents about me getting a car of my own. With me working and going to college I felt that I was ready for one of my own. Mom & Dad had always provided some kind of vehicle for me to use, but I wanted to get one of my own. Dad started looking around and one afternoon when I got home, he told me that he had found me a car. He said we needed to go to the bank and get me a loan. The car cost $550. Wouldn't you love to be able to get a pretty good car now for only $550? I went with my Dad to the bank to talk about a loan. At this point, I don't think I had even seen the car. But I trusted my Dad and away to the bank we went. I was worried about getting the loan, but I should have known better. People knew my Dad and there really wasn't any worries. He co-signed with me and I walked out of the bank with a $550 loan + interest and with a car payment each month of $52. It was a 1 year loan.
I was excited.
So for a year I made my payments on time and eventually owned that car free and clear.
It was a really good car. I didn't have any real trouble with it. I cleaned it all up and put orange shag carpet in the back window to help protect from the sun. Orange!!!
It was such a good experience for me to buy my first car. Being responsible for payments and care of a vehicle helped me in becoming more responsible for myself. That little car took me on trips - to Utah a couple of times, to South Dakota and all over town.
It took me to Manti to be married and took me clear to Arizona as a married woman. It took us back to Wyoming for four years and it was there that I sold the car to some friends for their son when we moved back to Arizona. I loved that little car. In it's later years we had trouble with the carburetor, but in the scheme of life, it wasn't that big of a deal.
I'm glad that my Dad taught me about being happy with what I could afford. It was not a brand new car, but the price, the upkeep and insurance was something that I could afford at the time.