Cars in the closet

Growing up in Noble County, Indiana I didn't get the chance to see too many classy cars. That said, the cars of my past came to mean much more to me than a status symbol- they now represent entire pockets of memories. My first car was a black, four-speed, 1989 Dodge Shadow ES. It had sweet burgundy velour interior, cassette player, and was a hatchback. My dad and I saw this car for sale on St. Rd. 33 in someone's front yard. It was $1,500 in 1995. I remember one night at a volleyball game, with my parents in the bleachers, I was about to serve the ball and looked at my dad. He dangled the keys so I could see them from afar and had a huge smile on his face.

But, this car in my mind, was a bit of a downgrade. That spring I had gone to prom in a 1995 Ford Mustang convertible. I wore a green velvet dress, bright red lipstick, fake jewelry from Claire's and cruised downtown Albion, IN like a princess. Of course, we put the top down! The following year, I went to prom with a different guy, and a different car. It was 1996, and I wore a bright sunflower-yellow dress with matching shoes. My boyfriend at the time had a 1990 Chevrolet Beretta. THIS was a classic car- similar to my Dodge Shadow, this car also had burgundy velour interior but was complete with fuzzy dice in the window and kick ass speakers and a subwoofer. At one point, he had underbody lights for this ride, but he broke them one night while trying to jump the railroad tracks in town.

Right now, most of these cars look the same. It's weird- at the time, they were very, very different. But, next up is a very different car. It was the car I pined for, even when I had never seen one before that fateful night. A bunch of my friends and I were staying at another friend's house. At the time, I was working at a printing press in the neighboring town and had tried my hand at making myself a fake ID. Well, I succeeded in changing the background of the license photo from the "under 21" red to the "21 and over" blue.

But, changing my birthdate was a bit too difficult for me to master at this point in my career of forgeries. So, I took the makeshift fake ID to the sleepover and my friend's friend showed up- in the car of my dreams! The Merkur XR4TI! See, the Merkur XR4TI not only had a really cool name, it also had a double spoiler and a moon roof. Since I was driving my stickshift Shadow at the time, I asked him if I could drive his car to the liquor store to try out the new ID. We took off for the store. In the liquor store I soon realized I was disoriented- what in the world do I want? I grabbed a bottle of Purple Passion and a 6-pack of Zima's, threw them on the counter like I knew what was what, and got out my wallet to pay. "Can I see some ID?" The cashier asked. "Oh sure..." I said as I showed him the ID through the plastic window in my wallet. "Can you take it out of that?" he asked. As I took it out of the wallet, my eyes scanned the store looking for the exit and trying to remember if that was a PUSH or a PULL door. "That says '79." he exclaimed. "No it doesn't- it says '74." I replied. "Nope. That says '79." he said, stubbornly standing his ground. I said the first thing that came to mind as I looked at my friend: "Did you bring your wallet?" "No, she replied- you drove." Wow, way to think on the fly. We calmly walked out of the store, frantically got in the car and I sped off. But even though I didn't get the booze, the night wasn't a total loss- at least I got to drive the Merkur XR4TI!