By Matt Belz, Guest Writer
I'm sure everyone remembers their first car. It was something special, something that you valued more than anything in the world (if it ran reliably). You took care of this car, put hard work into it, and it paid you back with excellent drives, good times, and all-around fun.
Because I'm 18, my recollection of my first car is most likely better than yours. That said, my times with my car aren't going to end anytime soon if I have my way about it.
The car I'm describing is my second 1982 Chevrolet Caprice Classic. I crashed (and totaled) my first Caprice. Since my first Caprice was the same model year as the one I'm driving now, I think that I am inclined to call them my first cars.
I've always loved cars, partly because my dad got me hooked on them. When I was younger, he had company car privileges (he's an engineer at General Motors). About the time I was 5 years old, I remember looking out the kitchen window and seeing a most beautiful black Corvette. Because of this, I am a die-hard Chevrolet nut. Two of the four cars that we own in the family are Chevrolets, the others being a Buick and an Oldsmobile.
My first Caprice carried me through the first part of my junior
year in high school. It was pretty much an excellent car, proving
reliable and fun in the same package. The only problems with it
were a tacky vinyl roof (dad optioned for it when it was built,
apparently in 1982 it was cool) and an underpowered engine
for the excessive weight of the car. The engine was a 305 V-8,
coupled with a three-speed [automatic] transmission. The transmission
eventually had to be rebuilt because of hard use. My parents drove
the car since it was first built, then bought the Oldsmobile mentioned
above. This freed up the car for a 16 year-old driver, something
unheard of in my family. My grandparents on the mom's side never
owned a car, and my dad didn't buy his first car until his early
twenties.
So here I am with my first car. I immediately fell in love with it. It was big, so it could hold a lot of stuff, and it was somewhat fast (once underway). I soon ditched the stock stereo for a Pioneer unit with tape deck. I added Kenwood speakers all around, and even put a shock plate on the transmission tunnel for a CD player which played through the tape deck. Sometime before my accident, I added Daytime Running Lights (DRL) to the car. This was something I wanted to do, not my parents. I think that even though they might not look cool, they sure can help you in everyday driving conditions.
I'm sure you remember your first accident. I'll never forget mine. It happened on February 14, 1996. I was driving through a neighborhood around my school. It was icy during the past week, but had warmed up some. There was black ice towards the end of a soft 90-degree curve. I didn't see it. As I was turning the corner, my teenage bull-headedness said it might be cool to try and kick the tail out. I did, and caught the black ice. 'Turns out not only was that portion of the turn covered with ice, but the rest of the street was, too, as well as the curb. I put the car into a 90-degree slide, and bounced up the curb smack dab into a light pole. The pole caught the car in the driver's side cowl area. (The photos you see show the pole indentation on the car.) I immediately jumped out of the car as if it was going to catch on fire or blow up. I was okay, and so were the key mechanical bits of the car. No one except me was involved in the accident, so I started the car and drove home.
I got home and told my mom what had happened. She went out to see the car and was horrified. The indentation was mammoth. I'm convinced if I was in a smaller car, I could have been hurt severely, or even killed. My dad was the one I was really worried about. He arrived home later that night after bowling. I told him, and to my surprise, he wasn't as angry as I though he would be. He called our insurance company the next day and scheduled an estimate. The estimate showed that the damage to the car was for $1400, and the car was worth only $1000. The insurance industry defines that as a total. My car was history, as far as the insurance company was concerned. My dad knew a guy with a frame-pulling machine, and he said he would do the car for us. He never got to the car due to an extremely long list of other vehicles to fix.
During the wait for the Caprice to be fixed, my dad heard of another Caprice for sale. This one was in good shape, has a slightly more powerful engine, and had been cared for throughout its life. It was only $800, and was available to buy right now. My dad bought it up. He suspended the repair that was about to happen to the first Caprice, and brought it back home.
The old Caprice wasn't done yet. Warren Mott High School puts a wrecked car on the front lawn of the school prior to the Prom each year, and I was a member of Mott's SADD chapter. I didn't want to see my Caprice die without one last harah, so I suggested that the still drivable car could be put on the lawn. The idea was approved, and so it happened. The photo shows the scene.
The Caprice came off the lawn, and we donated its engine to my dad's friend (the same guy who hooked us up with the new Caprice). The body is now in some scrap heap somewhere.
Now the new Caprice. It has the same origins as the first car. It is a 1982, with the same engine but a minor exception: a racier carburetor. It has a four-speed automatic. This car feels quite a bit quicker. This could be attributed to the extra gear in the transmission on the new car. The paint isn't in great shape, but there is no rust, and the body is intact.
The car gets better gas mileage than the original (12.5 to 10.0). This is due to the slightly more powerful engine, and the smarter driver who no longer races away from a stoplight. Power is great everywhere on the speedometer. For the most part, the engine has been very reliable. It sits on the curb every night, and starts right up every morning. The only major thing that has had to replaced is the oil pump due to low oil pressure in the engine. The engine currently has 125,000 miles on it.
The interior came in worse shape than the first car. I have sinse replaced the headliner, which was starting to peel away from the ceiling. The car has crank windows, whereas the first car had power windows. The top of the dashboard has some cracking on it. The stereo is something to be proud of. It is a Craig CD player hooked up to a Pyramid amplifier driving four Pioneer speakers. This is a decent sounding system for a minimal amount of money. I put the DRLs from the old Caprice on the new one. The car can seat six, but the most I allow in the car at one time is five. It holds my friends comfortably.
If given the choice of both cars, I think I would opt for the second Caprice. It has a more powerful engine, better reliability, and better stereo.
You never forget about your first car, and I'm sure that I'll never forget about mine.