I am feeling very nostalgic of late and I wanted to share some memories with you. My parents bought me a Geo Metro back in 1993 for my first "real car". It was burgandy and it had shiny plastic Geo rims. No AC, a dinky little radio that we replaced, and the tiniest engine known to man. I used to drive it down to Laurel to buy $10 worth of gas that would last all week. Dad and I put in a new radio and hung stereo speakers in the backseat with drywall screws. They used to fall off all the time, my friends knew to just stick them back up.
I loved that car. I would blast my cheesy music that only I liked and hang my elbow out the window like I was something. John Lennon sunglasses, wind blowing through my hair, singing Crash Test Dummies or Phantom of the Opera at the top of my lungs. My Junior year of HS I had a group of friends that I hung out with (ya'll know who you are) and we went all over in that car. We drove down to Savage Mills to hang out with a buddy, drove to school games, and down to the movies where my boyfriend worked. I took that same boyfriend down to SC for spring break one year. We drove down to my hometown, Greenwood, SC to visit all my friends. I remember his shock when we drove into town and passed a police car. It was one of those old Dukes of Hazzard cars with the single blue light on top. MD had upgraded to the Taurus at the time and he laughed his head off. He also thought all the pick up trucks were a little much but it was home to me : )
One summer, my sister, my cousin, and I drove to MI to visit family. We got out at one rest stop and one of my shiny plastic Geo rims was missing. I was sad but what could I do? It was gone. We stopped at another rest stop later and 2 more were missing. We laughed til we cried, driving my little ghetto Metro up to MI with one plastic rim. That rim stayed put til my senior year when my dad bought me a brand new set of shiny plastic rims.
I drove all over in that car. I drove to SC several times, to MI to visit family, to school, the movies, to visit friends, and to work. I used to put the little 2 year old that I watched in the back seat in his car seat and take him to the mall. My mom and I drove it to SC once and one of my contacts flew out of my eye at a gas station and she had to drive the rest of the way. She was so mad! I was just as mad, those contacts cost money and I had to have just one in the rest of the way home.
I got a speeding ticket once on the way home from SC, cop told me I was doing 85 in that little tiny car. I laughed in his face and told him No Way! It doesn't even do 80, it shakes so hard you can't steer it. He didn't see things my way and gave me a ticket. Meanie.
I got another ticket before that and wasn't all that suck upish then either. I got a ticket and had to go to DIP (driver improvement program). I was sitting there with all these grown men who had gotten DUI's and I decided no more speeding. (except that one from SC but that was a couple years later and I wasn't speeding)
I used to drive it to work in Columbia where I would call people during dinner and ask them who they were voting for in the upcoming election. I would walk over to Wawa and buy Mountain Dew and Reeses Pieces to eat while I called people and made them mad. Guess who I met at the Wawa? Yup, my Spouse! He was all smiley and cute and trying to hit on me. I thought he was a teenager so I let him. Little did I know he was old (jk spouse). Anyway, we hit it off well and things blossomed from there. I would drive the Metro to hang out at his house or go to the park and walk around. We would drive to Rock N Bowl til 3 am listening to Clarence Carter and bowling like we knew how.
We got pulled over once when I was humongous pregnant. I didn't hang my front license plate because there was no place to hang it. I would keep it in the backseat in case I ever got pulled over so I could show the cop I had it. The cop was really nice and told me that when we were done running our errands to find some way to hang it. No problem Officer! After our last stop, we were heading back to my house (to hang the license plate of course) when we got pulled over again. Miss Officer was not buying our story, attempted to pull a gun on us, thought my Tums case was a cocaine holder, and bullied her way through the entire stop. I had never been so harassed. But guess what? We hung that license plate!
All in all, my Geo Metro was a little egg shaped gift from heaven. If I ever have the opportunity, I will buy another one and drive it around, even if just to embarass my teenagers. I wish I had some pics of it but I don't think I do. What was your first car? Did you name it? What's your favorite memory?
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