MotorHeadline: In my merry Oldsmobile

My first new car — 1977 Oldsmobile Cutlass Salon. Bought from Mitchell Motors downtown Atlanta. Ordered it with just the stuff I wanted. Out the door, it was a little over $3800, and if I had it to do over again, I would’ve blown that $650 for the Hurst T-Tops. Did get to drive the limited edition Delta 88 with the diesel 350 when Mitchell had to keep my Cutlass overnight one time. Sold it to my cousin, and she drove it while she was going to Oglethorpe University. She sold it, for more than she gave me for it. I still miss that car…

MODERATION ??!!

In the Spring of 1968, I bought a 1961 Oldsmobile 98 convertible from a friend whose new wife was slightly scandalized by it. She thought it looked like a bordello on wheels. I did, too, and that was part of its attraction. Dark, dark blue, white canvas top, chrome everywhere. I thought it identified me as something I was not: cool. Even though it was a lot like driving your grandmother’s over-furnished living room, the car flat flew. It had a 390 cubic inch engine that generated the horsepower of an Atlas rocket, and I sometimes found myself on the highway wondering why everyone else was driving so slowly as I cruised past them, top down, AM radio blasting, at 90-95 miles per hour. (Putting the top down almost instantly robbed one of any sense of speed.) The extra-wide tires and the plush GM ride tended to mask any sense of the road as well. I mean, I would have noticed if I actually drove over another, smaller car, but tree trunks and human bodies would not have registered. Olds was then not yet the thing that it eventually became: the old lady’s version of the Buick driven by doctors everywhere or the bland, generic GM middle-of-the-pack, under-powered, indifferently made kid-hauler that should have had CAR in large, black Helvetica letters painted on each side. Finally, that was all it was: a car. My wife and I sent our daughter off to college one year in a 2-door Cutlass that turned out to be both identifiably unsafe and the most stolen car in America. (Parts of it fit every car across the mid-sized GM line.) After it had been stolen and recovered 3 times, we replaced it with a Volvo that was both extraordinarily safe and unattractive to car thieves, thus bringing to an end our affiliation with Oldsmobile. Still, I recall with fondness barreling past strangers on the highway, top down, AM radio blasting. Perhaps it’s the sense of having once been young and feckless that I recall so warmly, but that dark blue 98 certainly played an important role in my life fifty-five years ago. Ah, youth. Ah, Olds!

I bought a ’57 Rocket 88 back in 1983. Beautiful auto. It was a bit too expensive to maintain so I sold it to an enthusiast in Beech Island, SC. I loved that car. It had a “Humphrey for President” bumper sticker (from his unsuccessful 1960 campaign).

My first car was a 1966 Chevrolet Impala I own a 2012 Impala today.

My first car was a 1965 ford galaxie 500 xl rag top. when i went overseas in the army i sold it what a shame. I still miss that car today I am luck enough to have a 1965 galaxie 500 390 hard top not the same but i would never give this one up.

MY FIRST CAR WAS A 1950 88 4DR SD, PAYED 350.00 FOR IT IN 1955.
ON THE DIESEL CARS YOU MORE OR LESS HAD TO GIVE ONE A WAY IF YOU HAD ONE. USE CAR DEALERS WOULD BUY THEM FOR ALMOST NOTHING, PULL THE ENGINE OUT THEN HUNT THE JUNK YARDS FOR GAS ENGINE’S AND THEN SELL CAR AND MAKE A COUPLE THOUSAND