Inheriting the Red Hornet
In our family, the general consensus is that teenagers don’t need a brand-new car for their first car. Mom and Dad held to this philosophy and therefore, I did too when my kids were of the right age. My dad must have been obsessed with the year 1972 because Lisa’s first car was a ‘72, my first car was a ‘72 and my second car was also a ‘72.
Grandma Doris and Grandpa Art both had AMC Hornets. One was brown and one was red. The brown one was given to Mom and Dad after Grandpa died. There was always lots of teasing about me driving the red Hornet when the time came and I swore there was no way I would ever drive that car. That car was hideous.
Then I turned 16 and got my driver’s license. I was given the opportunity to drive the red hornet or walk. Hhhhmmm – let’s think about this… and yep – I decided the red hornet was okay to be seen in.
When I was first given the keys, I excitedly walked across the street and got in my “new” car. I started opening all the compartments and exploring the car as you do with a new vehicle. I pushed all the buttons and wanted to see what worked and what didn’t. I figured that not much would work without the keys in the ignition, so pushing in the cigarette lighter wouldn’t do anything, right? The lighter popped out and I pulled it out and looked at the coils. They looked black, so I touched my index finger on them to see if they were warm. OUCH! I smelled burning flesh and had coil marks on the tip of my finger. Mental note – cigarette lighters work even if the car is not on!
My car was easily spotted and identified in town. The car started out red, but as the years went by, it turned a lovely fluorescent orange color and had significant rust along each side of the hood. When I was parked in the high school parking lot, kids would take the rusty edges and pull them straight up and call my car “Jaws”.
Even though my car was an awful color, had no heat, no air conditioning, no radio, no power locks, and no power windows. It was mine. It gave me freedom. Freedom to go where I wanted when I wanted. And it also gave me the ability to do things I shouldn’t.
One school day, my boyfriend and I went to his house for lunch. I was always given strict instructions that I was NOT to drive my car during the school day and I was to stay at school during lunch. Of course, I didn’t listen. On our way back to school, I was at a stop sign and the lady turning into the subdivision took her turn too sharp and ran right into me. Calling Mom about the accident is something I’ve blanked out of my memory. Needless to say – the car now needed to be repaired but finding new faded fluorescent orange quarter panels proved to be a little too challenging. So the best thing Dad could find was yellow ones. My car then resembled a Ronald McDonald car – faded fluorescent orange with yellow front quarter panels.
If I thought my car was easily spotted before – it just became like a neon sign saying “I am here!”
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