Time Passages #2: Measuring Time in Cars, 1976-2005

Your Monday Photo Shoot: Show us picture of something that to you represents the passage of time.

Sometimes I figure out when something happened by what dog or dogs we had at the time.  Other times, I use cars to do the same thing. The pictures in these two entries are a pretty good chronicle of our photographic equipment as well, from a Polaroid OneStep (and its "count it down, zip it off" predecessor) to a Canon AE-1 to a Chinon, and then from disposables to a Sony Mavica to a Canon PowerShot S410.  I can't guarantee that all of the above are represented in these dog and car pictures, but they certainly include both Polaroids, at least one of the 35mm SLRs, and both digitals.

Left:  my first car, the Artful Dodger.  This 1967 Dodge Coronet wagon was my Mom's car from 1968-1976, mine from 1976-1977.  The hood rusted so badly that one day it blew away on Interstate 481.  Fortunately, it landed on the shoulder, not hitting anything else along the way.  Unfortunately, my dad's tactic of wiring the hood to the car was bound to be a temporary measure at best.  The car had a butterfly valve problem, which is to say that sometimes it wouldn't start without a pencil or screwdriver holding the choke open.  I obviously couldn't do this with the engine compartment wired shut.  The first time the situation came up, my dad had the car hauled away--and loaned me his Duster.

Below: our 1964(?) Ford Falcon van.  This was the vehicle in which John and I had our honeymoon in 1979, leaky transmission and all.  That's my brother Steve in 1979.  The stencils of "kills" were John's doing.

 

In 1986 we traded the Ford van in (or did we still have it by then?  I forget) on the 1984 Dodge van that we used to drive around the country for four months.  Both of the vans were really John's, not mine.  I only drove them occasionally.  From 1984-1988 or so, I mostly drove Honda scooters.




From about 1988-1992 I had this 1979 Mercury Capri.  This picture was taken in Norco, California during the great Quantum Leap adventure of August, 1990, when Dimitra, the Murray twins and I met Scott Bakula for the first time.

I  knew that the Capri was on its last legs when I drove it toward L.A. one last time in 1992, for an interview with Scott B. My credit card was maxed out, so I couldn't rent a car that weekend.  Around Indio, the Capri's top speed dropped precipitiously as the transmission failed.  By the time we reached the junkyard, it was crawling along at 15 mph.

I couldn't find a picture of the 1987 silver Toyota Corolla that came next, but I still have most of the paperwork for it.  Once the transmission had been replaced several times for free, it was a pretty good car for several years.  When it needed $5000 worth of repair in 2001 or so, I gave it to the Salvation Army.



Left:  the 1984 Dodge van, purchased in 1986 for our big trip.  It hasn't been driveable in about four years, but it's still in the driveway.  Right, John with the 1997 Saturn SL2.  My mom bought it for me in January 2002.  I took this picture about a year ago.

And of course, you know what's happened these past two weeks:



The Saturn after the accident of Wednesday, March 30th.



I get to pick up this 1994 Eagle Vision TSi on Wednesday, April 13th.  When all is said and done, I'll have spent just over $1000 to go from a 1997 car to a 1994 car.  It's a bigger car, though, the mileage is lower, and it hasn't been in any accidents (according to CarFax, anyway).  Let's hope I keep it that way!

Karen