Name That Car

I have named Mom’s car The Wonka Mobile. No, not after one of my favorite movies, well, not really. After we had the tire changed after the flat the other day, the car looked wonky, you know, with one of those Pinto-sized tires they say can be used on any vehicle.

Have you named your car? When graduated high school, I bought a 1972 Chevelle Malibu 350, deep green in color. My friends nicknamed it, The Hulk. I wasn’t exactly thrilled with it, but The Hulk served me well for four years. Not bad for only $400. When The Hulk was finally retired, taken to the big automobile graveyard in Bloomington, MN, the 8-cylinder monster was running 100% in just one chamber, 80% in 2 cylinders, less 50% in 2 and and less than 10% in the other 3.

When the funeral was over and I was over the mourning period (like, the next day) I ended up with the spare family car, the Plymouth Fury. This monster was about 30 feet long. But, when it came to traveling, it hauled almost everything. The gang called it “The Boat”. It actually rode like a boat on a lake. The ruts in the road like a rolling wake. If you got seasickness, don’t ride with Patti!

One day, while driving on a newly opened section of road (I don’t even remember which one), Debi and I were all alone on the road when a huge noise came from the bottom of the car. We pulled over scared, laughing and nearly peeing our pants from adrenaline. We looked under the car and discovered a large metal pipe hanging from the back axle.

We were stranded (kiddies, this is the time before cell phones). The newly opened highway was not very well traveled so we were looking at a long walk. In the distance, we saw a car. Debi came up with a plan, stood on the trunk end of the car and began a dance. I merely waved my arms in the air. We got a ride into town from a very nice guy. Looking back, it probably was a dumb thing to do, but then, we didn’t think of that think back then.

Turns out it was the Universal Joint. AND, because of the cement style road, the kind with sidewalk-style ‘cracks’ in it every so often, if we had driven a few more feet, we could have flipped the car!