Sunday, February 18, 2007

My first car

Here is a picture of my first car. A 1978 Honda Civic CVCC. I got this beauty when I was 17 in 1987 for $200. It was found forgotten in some lady's garage. I think it cost another $1000.00 to get it road worthy. It was rusty, it leaked when it rained, and the smoke that would come out of it when I started it freaked out a neighbor so much that he asked me not to park near his house for fear the carbon monoxide would kill his family in their sleep (no word of a lie!). I even replaced the steering wheel with a racing steering wheel and to this day I still am unsure how I did it, I have no clue when it comes to auto repair! It was my first car and the pride I had in it blinded me to the fact that it really was a death trap on wheels.

I think I only had it for about 6 months before I destroyed it. Its a funny story. I drove it into a park with my buddy Tony. We were on a spare in high school and were looking for something to do. I get the car stuck in wet grass after I strayed off the path, burn out the clutch trying to get it unstuck and we both get covered in mud. I call a tow truck, it gets right up to the car and it gets stuck. They call another tow truck, it gets stuck at the entrance to the park. They call in a 4x4 tow truck who decides he will drive through the wet grass instead of use the path to get to us and you guessed it, he too gets stuck. Now its dark, its getting late, I'm a stupid kid and I have school in the morning. I leave, with the promise that they will get everyone out including me. Next morning I find my car still stuck in the mud only now it has a fence built around it by the city of Scarborough and its been impounded, literally! As for all the tow trucks? Gone. Turns out later that night, they brought in a tow truck that tows buses. It drove in tore up all the grass, got all the tow trucks out and left my car there.

Long story short, I along with the Tow truck company (which shall remain nameless) were both sued by the city of Scarborough for damages done to the park. I got off lightly (although I'm sure my mom would disagree) and the Tow truck company had to pay the majority of the cost to repair the damages.

My car sat in that park for 5 days before I rounded up about 10 guys from high school and we literally broke down the fence that surrounded my car and pushed it out of the park. Unfortunately by that time the damage had been done. The 5 days my cars spent in the park was too much for kids who had to walk past it on their way to and from school. They vandalized it, and basically tore it apart. It was a complete write off by the time we got it out.

So the next time you happen to drive through the intersection of McNicol and Birchmount think of me. That park on the corner? I own a piece of that!

Picture courtesy of http://www.adclassix.com/ads2/78hondacivicwp.htm

No comments: