A kid’s grade school years are some of their most formative. As a kid, you learn to socialize, maybe build a friend network, and figure out who you might become as a person. As a teenager, you might experiment with new experiences, have feelings you’ve never felt before, and perhaps not realize how good you have it while you’re not currently paying bills or having adult responsibilities. Part of grade school involves sometimes being driven to school by your parents or guardians. What were you driven to school in?
My family has always had an interesting relationship with cars. One of the earliest vehicles I remember was the W123 Mercedes-Benz that my mom named ‘Jane.’ I couldn’t have been any older than 5 years old or so when that car was written off. That was in roughly 1997 or so.
My parents also had a pretty big fascination with minivans. My mom would try to have the latest vans, which would lead her to buy a new 1999 Ford Windstar, a 2003 Chrysler Voyager, and then a 2003 Oldsmobile Silhouette. Dad often had older vans, including a 1993 Plymouth Voyager and a 1995 Chevy-Van 20.
Some of my earliest school trip memories involve riding in the second row of that brown ’93 Voyager. My dad would have WLS 890 AM blaring, and in between loud pops of static, I listened to talking heads make commentary on politics. I still remember how much WLS marketed Rush Limbaugh back then. I also remember the smell of my dad’s cheap cigarettes, the softness of the burgundy cloth seats, and the gentle whine of the van’s transmission as it began its departure from this mortal plane.
I was too young to understand the political banter at the time. Instead, I found the voices, broken by bursts of static, to be soothing. That van was more welcoming than any school bus.
As I got older, the vans went away, and were replaced by vehicles like a cherry red 2003 Chevy Blazer, a 2000 Ford Ranger, a 1990s Nissan Hardbody, and a gold on tan 1995 or so Saturn SC1. My dad always drove these older, more beaten vehicles, and the Saturn was no exception. It had only basic amenities, and its interior was worn from a working man who put in hard overtime every single day and relieved stress through packs of cigarettes.
I loved the little coupe. Its exhaust was rusted out, so the car sounded “sporty” to my kid ears. It was a manual, too, so I got to watch dad throw the stick back and forth. I was also in love with the Saturn’s design, from its gigantic instrument cluster to the body, which made me think of a spaceship. In 2010, when I was 16 going on 17, my dad tossed me the keys and gave me a crash course in driving a manual.
Sadly, as much as I wanted the Saturn to be my first car, the vehicle met its end when my dad lost control at an intersection and slid over a curb at high speed. The impact was so hard that the vehicle’s unibody split.
In my later school years, I’d run late for the bus, and my mom would have me drive myself to school in her GMC Envoy XL while she sat in the passenger seat. Then, I’d roll up to the school’s door, toss her the keys, and then sprint in.
A part of me does wonder what would have happened to me as a car enthusiast had I not lived much of my grade school years out of the backs of so many cars. What if, like most of my classmates, I always rode the school bus?
Here’s where I turn things over to you. What cars were you driven to school in as a kid or teenager?
Top graphic image: Saturn
In grade school, I had to walk. Even when we moved to a new city and the walk was a mile.
Most often my grandfather’s 2001 Subaru Forester L which my uncle had dubbed “the blubaru”. I also have vivid childhood memories of getting picked up from school in my dad’s 1994 Volvo 850 turbo wagon that he got rid of when I was about 6 years old. It reeked of licorice (which he ate to try and quit smoking) and always had All Things Considered with NPR going on the radio.
I’m 23. My mom’s 2002 Subaru Legacy L station wagon was the child chariot and is still her daily driver, about to be taken over by my sister.
I wasn’t driven to school at all. I walked, or later went by bicycle. The first four years, driving would not have made any sense at all, because my school was only about 500 m away from where we lived.
We had the same car from kindergarten to school, until we moved an we started taking the tram and bus to school: a Seat Cordoba.
Chosen by my family purely because it was the cheapest new car available. My parents needed a new car after the previous one was stolen, and my mom meant that we “couldn’t afford a used car”, since those were often sketchy.
I loved that car,.it wasn’t big, it wasn’t luxurious, or fast, but it was a perfectly good family car.
Mostly rode bus/rode bike to school (loved my BMX bike; rode it everywhere all around the suburbs, parks, off road, etc), but similar to the Voyager we had a blue Dodge Grand Caravan (those were everywhere!) Later, we actually had a Previa (egg) van- kinda cool. I do have fond memories of my oldest brother’s car when he was in high school: and 80’s Chevy Caprice Station Wagon! That was so awesome especially the back facing seats
I wasn’t driven to school that often, but me and the neighborhood kids (7 of us total) got taken to the bus stop at the end of our road. My parents didn’t usually keep cars around very long, so from 2nd grade (when we moved to that house) until I started driving we had a 77 Dodge Maxi-van, 83 Delta 88 coupe, 69 Corvette, 79 Trans-Am, 86 Pontiac 6000, 87 Bonneville, 88 Cougar XR-7, 86 Aerostar, 93 Intrepid, and probably one or 2 others I’m forgetting.
My neighbor (3 kids) that drove about 90% of the time had a 78 Zephyr wagon until the early 90’s, then she got a 1st gen Taurus wagon.
The other neighbor (other 3 kids) had a very early Reliant, a really beat up 75 Ford truck, and a mid-80’s Cutlass Ciera. They traded the Reliant and truck in for a brand new 91 conversion van. They still had that van when I graduated and moved in 98.