Monday, November 16, 2009

My First Car

Most people have a special place in their heart for their very first car. I am no different.

It was a 1984 BMW 318i. I bought it in 2000, so it was only like 16 years old at the time, but hey, it was a Beamer!

It was a bright orange red, an automatic, and it had a sunroof (you had to open it with a crank), it was awesome.

Unfortunately, like most first cars, it wasn't very reliable. I had to call my brother on many occasions just to get a jump start. One day, just a jump wasn't enough, so my father and I took it to a shop.

It needed some work in the amount of 300 dollars. I paid it and I thought that would be the end of my troubles.

However, it was a 1984 BMW, so the problems didn't end there. I still had trouble with it starting and it was driving me crazy. After all I had just paid 300 dollars to make that problem go away.

So we took it back to the shop. It needed more repairs in the amount of yet another 300 dollars. So I paid it and prayed there would be no more problems after that.

To tell you the truth I can't quite remember if it had trouble starting after that. The next thing I really remember about it was horrible. Prepare yourselves, because what I'm about to tell you may make you want to cry.

I was driving to school one misty morning on a road I drove on everyday. I was jammin to the Foo Fighters WHEN ALL OF A SUDDEN THE CAR WENT COMPLETELY OUT OF CONTROL. A lot of people think I'm crazy when I tell them what happened. They say "you weren't paying attention" or "how can a car go crazy?" WELL IT DID, and I will stick to that story until my dying day because it's the absolute truth.

So the car went out of control and the next thing I knew it had done a complete 180 and crashed into a wall on the side of the road.

Don't panic, I was completely fine. I sat there for a minute in shock and then decided I better get out of the car.

I sat on the side of the road trying to call my mom who wasn't awake yet (as usual) and therefore did not answer the phone.

I waited and waited for someone to stop, when FINALLY, someone I knew from middle school (who now went to the same High School) saw me and pulled over.

I was still in shock at this time so I'm guessing they called the police, or a tow truck . . . I'm not really sure, all I remember is getting into there car and calling my mom again. Still no answer. So I called my brother. You might be thinking "hey why didn't you call him sooner?" Well, at this time he lived in New York. Luckily he answered. He calmed me down and said he had a plan (maybe, I'm not 100% sure on the details). He then called one of his friends that lived in the same town as me and had him go over to my house and bang on the door so my mom would wake up.

Sidebar: This story isn't very fun to tell.

My mom finally called me, but by this time I was already in the tow truck with my demolished car behind me. Tow truck man was giving me a ride home. When I arrived at my house my mom was outside waiting for me and when I got out of the truck I burst into tears.

Tow truck man then took my car away. . . . forever.

It was totaled. My heart was broken, but I had to move on. My rebound car was, like most rebounds are, a really bad decision, but that's another story entirely.

I did see my beloved Beamer one more time, but only so I could get my things out of it.

Although I really miss that car, I'm sure I would hate it if I still had it today.

Here are some pictures so you can see it's magnificence. You might notice some blurriness in these pictures, just ignore them.



See that Red Truck next to my beautiful beamer? That's my dads . . . he still drives that car, and it still works fine.



By the way, the day after the accident I went back to school and about a million ( it was a big high school ) people came up to me and said they drove past the accident. I said "Why the F*** didn't you stop?"

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good camo job...

Jon said...

I can see why your memory of this might be a little fuzzy. I wasn't living in New York at the time, but I was visiting friends in NY at the time. I remember going to the junk yard to retrieve your things with you and Mom.

I will vouch for the road conditions. I drove that strip of pavement many times and under wet conditions, it does become very slick, and when a car gets loose on you, there's nothing you can do.

Here's why you don't miss it. It went from zero to 60 in approximately 12 minutes... going down hill... with the wind behind you. But it was a pretty nice looking car. Great color!

Anonymous said...

Where was I? Was I already in Kent? I have a really bad memory but I knew about the accident. It's amazing you weren't hurt. Cars scare me, that's why I didn't get one until I absolutely had to. At 23.

Madelyn said...

Jon - Really? You were only visiting? Because if I was 17, that means you were 23 . . . shouldn't you have been living there at that time?

Madelyn said...

anon 2 - Well if I was 17 that means you were 25, so yeah, you must have been in Kent.

Jon said...

Well, I know I was there to check out your second vehicle. such a mistake. And I know for a fact that I was there on your 18th birthday...

If I wasn't visiting, I was within a few days of coming home.

cadiz12 said...

i thought your dad's truck was white?

and wth people who just drove by but wanted the gossip later? i hate people sometimes.

Anonymous said...

It was the slippery condition of the road that caused the accident. Luckily you only hit a block wall and not another car or bicycle or something. Not your fault.

It was a cool car - you made a great choice getting it. And the $600 you dropped into the electrical system was about normal. The car was totaled but you were not hurt - what more can you ask?

Just remember - my 1990 Toyota pickup has 285K miles and I can fix anything that goes wrong with it. Hardly anyone can say that.

Your Honda was a good choice, too. You're two out of three - pretty good.

Syar said...

That sounds horrible. I remember my first car accident (3 years ago). It shortened my car by about 4 feet, maybe? Bah. It got fixed though, and repainted (my car was a red-red and now it's silver). It still works, but with the barrage of quirks an old car would have (shutting off while I'm on the road, a stuck gear stick, squeaky noises, white foam coming out the air conditioning).

That accident sounds way scarier than mine though. A wall?! And to those million people at your country-szied high school = what jerks!

Unknown said...

That was a great car!!! At least your first car wasn't a teal Mazda hatchback. I spent as much money on repairs on that car as I did buying it.

Jon said...

Also, I forgot to mention that I have a special bond with all of my vehicles, may they rest in peace.