The Wagon

While hanging out with some of Jaron’s friends, I often hear them talking about old cars.  “Dude, did you see that (make/model)?! That’s a (year)! That car/truck could haul (ridiculous amount) pounds and reach (ridiculous) miles per hour in (miniscule) seconds, blah blah blah.  This might have something to do with the fact that they are all engineers, but I must say, they know their old cars.

This got me thinking about my old car.  My first car.  Yes, it was old.  Gather round while I reminisce.  

My first car was….wait for it….a 1986 Toyota Cressida.  But it gets worse better… It was a station wagon.  Picture this:  I am sixteen years old, just got my license, and I pull into the high school parking lot.  My station wagon, amongst Volvos, Acuras, Jettas, and other cute little shiny cars, sticks out like a sore giant grey thumb.  Needless to say, I was pretty embarrassed by the car.  Don’t get me wrong, I definitely appreciated having a vehicle to drive at sixteen, I was just definitely not pulling up to the local hangout in that thing…even if it was at a Wendy’s parking lot. (I still don’t understand how Wendy’s ended up being the cool place to be…Not even inside Wendy’s…in the parking lot?!  How did that happen?  Anyway, I digress…)

Even though the wagon had automatic seatbelts that would inevitably strangle all unsuspecting passengers, even though the wagon was born the same year as me, even though a car battery leaked in the back and burned a hole in the carpet, even though my friends would ask me to honk my horn in the parking lot because it sounded similar to a burp/fart,  I eventually got over my embarrassment of the wagon. 

 

I only had the wagon for a few years and I was thrilled to get a new(er) car, but as I look back on my early high school days, I have to admit, I kind of miss it now… (Insert cheesy-slow-motion-video of me and the wagon).  

I realized I don’t have a single picture of the wagon – so I went online to look for pictures and I came across this:  

Photo rights:  JapaneseNostalgicCars.com

That’s right.  My wagon is a “Japanese Nostalgic Car”.  Nostalgia is right.

So I am calling out to all of you who have shared the love/hate relationship with the wagon.  I have not a single picture of it!  If you have any pictures of it, please send them to me or leave a memory in the comment section below!  Thanks!

PS:  If you were a victim of the automatic seatbelt strangulation, I apologize on behalf of the wagon.  I’m sure he didn’t mean it.  He just wanted you to be safe.