This is the start

I've had ideas for blogging about automotive concepts for a while now. I enjoy cars tremendously and want to share some of my experiences I've had over the years. While I may be slighly on the wrong side of 30 (31 to be exact) I think I've adapted my car philosophy fairly well. When I got the keys to my first car at 16 (a 1987 Chevy Cavalier coupe with a 5 speed manual) it seemed like a new sense of freedom and individuality. I actually learned that I love driving. I'd take drives to clear my head, get away for a bit and just cover some ground. I think the thing I learned about manual transmissions is that they connect you to the car and the driving much more closely than an automatic can.



Funny thing about that Cav was that the previous owner put in a car stereo and couldn't wire it to save their lives. I'd have fuses blow (I learned to detect and change the blown fuse very quickly) constantly but the real kicker was when the dash lights burned out. I couldn't figure out how to get them back on no matter how hard I tried. The headlights worked at night so that was no big deal but since the gauges weren't lit up I couldn't see my speedometer. I learned to pay attention to the sound of the revving engine and what tone corresponded with speeds in what gear. I could tell you how fast I was going by the engine within a few mph. That was the second thing that tied me more into my cars.



This went on for 2 months before I had the money to put a new car stereo in (priorities of a 16 year old I guess) and by having a professional install it, my dash lights miraculously came back on. Thank you to whatever Best Buy tech unknowningly fixed my dash light issue.



Anyway, I love cars. In 15 years of driving I've actually owned 7 cars. I know this averages a little over 2 years per car but I'm really trying to cut this down. Here's what I've owned over the last decade and a half:



1987 Chevy Cavalier coupe 5spd manual

1997 Pontiac Sunfire SE coupe 3spd auto

1995 Saturn SL2 Sedan 5spd manual

1998 Ford Contour SE sedan 4spd auto

2000 Toyota Camry LE Sedan 4spd auto

2001 Toyota Celica GT 5spd Manual

2004 Subaru WRX Wagon 4spd auto



The number of different cars I've driven is too long to keep the interest of anyone in a single blog post so I'll leave that for another time. Some of these cars I've really loved and others I've learned what buyer's remorse feels like. All of them have taught me what I like and don't like about cars. In future posts I'll put up more detailed experiences which will show my evolution into what I do today and what I'll probably do in the future.

The next blog will talk about my first car the '87 Cavalier. It had so many names I can't even remember them all. Some that come to mind are Archangel, Creeping Death, Nightcrawler, Blue Angel, the Archangel of Creeping Death. More to come about this bittersweet memory in the next post.