Opinion

The third cup

Sunday, March 28, 2004

Hi neighbors. Most of us can't remember when we drank our first cup of coffee, but we can all remember the day we got our first car. No matter the age or condition of the first car, the first drive was always a great occasion. There is no greater sense of freedom than getting to sit behind your own steering wheel.

Certainly there is no low as low as sitting behind that same steering wheel when the car won't start, or if started, won't go anywhere. No anxiety as strong as driving a car that often "dies" unexpectedly in the middle of traffic.

For most teens, the first car has many things wrong with, high mileage and high maintenance. But 99.9 percent of teen cars have radios (or stereos of some type) that work -- and work loudly.

Despite it's mechanical shortcomings, no vehicle is more cherished, cleaned and waxed. No motor is more often tinkered with and tweaked. No radio or stereo system more often tested for endurance.

Teens usually get their first car the same time they get their first job. It's hard to tell which idea spawns the other, but if I were betting, I'd say they get jobs to get a car, not the other way around.

If the first car survives high school it usually follows the child to school (college) one day, with even more miles under one of it's belts.

Bill's first vehicle was a truck that was smaller than most cars. The first "modification" was putting in a new stereo system which caused a need for all new wiring. The first two weeks of ownership it was in the shop getting re-wired.

He drove it to work every day, although he didn't drive it to high school. We lived across the street from school and his parking place was further from the building than our driveway.

He called me one evening to come and pick him up from work. "You drove to work," I reminded him.

"Well, half way," he said. "I need you to come get me tonight and I'll get Dad to help me fix the truck tomorrow." It seems the truck died on the way to work in the middle of Austin. He had to push it across three lanes of traffic to get it off the street and shoulder. That was a new alternator I think.

It was good the truck was small enough to push by one man. If there had been two men they could have probably picked it up and carried it off the roadway.

It came with a camper top but that didn't last long. He lost that in the only accident he had in his truck. It was on Thanksgiving Day in Stockton. We had gone to visit my brother's family for the holiday and Bill had driven his truck so he could come back early to go to work.

There had been rain all day, but not freezing rain, so I thought he'd be fine going home.

Bill wasn't gone 20 minutes until he was brought back in a stranger's car. He was giddy and hyper, but unharmed. The truck had sailed past a corner and wedged between the ditch and the embankment.

Bill considered the damage minimal as the stereo wasn't damaged and had to continue to play without skipping while the truck tossed and turned.

Somewhere during the years the gas gauge broke. That took Mom several trips with gas cans for refills to where ever he was stranded before we figured out that half way between half full and a quarter of a tank was his "empty" area.

Like two young colts growing older together, he and his old truck have developed a symbiotic relationship involving taking turns with mobility.

Over the years Bill has put quite a few miles on the old truck. In retaliation, the old truck has put quite a few miles on Bill as well. He has walked as many miles to get parts, gas and someone to help push, pull or tow as he has driven.

Now that they are both older, their maturity is showing. Bill has learned how to change clutches, alternators, batteries, oil filters, wiper blades, rims and tires. He has figured out mechanical problems from how to operate the jack to how to do wiring. The truck has learned that to get peace, it had to break the stereo.

He recently got a "new" used car that is larger than his old truck. I'm sure he will learn a lot from this one as well.

Until the next time friends remember; we have many "firsts" in our lives, but one of our strongest memories is usually of our first car.