Who among us wasn’t absolutely counting the days until they could actually drive to school by themselves? No more indignity of being dropped off and picked by your uncool Mom or Dad, and the total lack of control of the car stereo that that entailed. Better still, no more waiting for the bus and the horrors within that were the garbage appetizer and rancid dessert to start and finish each day of school.
What sort of car you were allowed to drive or owned yourself scarcely mattered; yes, cooler was better, but literally anything that got you to school and back (and to parties and dances and your girlfriend’s house, etc.) was some level of cool by default. Because freedom is cool.
Lucky for me, the cars I drove to school were a mix of cool then and cool now. Cool then: the family’s Jeep J10 Thriftside, an example of which is not pictured below. That’s a Gladiator, because finding a usable pic of a J10 with a Thriftside bed was pretty dang hard. Aside from a different grille and blue paint instead of that sweet seafoam color, my (family’s) Jeep was just pretty much just like the pic, right down to the steelies and manual locking hubs.
Cool now, the subject of the topshot: a Toyota Tercel SR5 4WD wagon. This was primarily my Mom’s car, but I did take it to school a few times a month. It was not appreciated at the time beyond being a set of wheels to cart myself and the gang around, but it’s one of the Cars Of My Past I’d most like to have back.
The first car that was solely mine was a 1974 Super Beetle, one of three at my high school. The other was a sweeter-looking Super on mag wheels that looked faster (less slow) than mine, but was not, as proven by our stoplight drag races on the way to and from school. The other Beetle was also a Super, but equipped with the AutoStick three-speed semi-auto trans (you still had to shift it, but there was no clutch). This Beetle was the slowest of all, and I’m pretty sure it was also the slowest car at school, period. Mind you, the Spanish teacher drove a Chevette Scooter, so that’s saying something.
What did you drive in high school?
I drove a bright blue 1987 Volvo 240 DL Wagon. (For the record, I’m not dating myself here, this was 5 years ago.) I still miss that car dearly, it’s the one vehicle I’ve owned that never stranded me, and it was pleasingly mechanical in a way a lot of the more modern machines I’ve driven aren’t. RIP
I went to a boarding school, so I didn’t drive anything, but some of the day students…a friend of mine got himself a nice, mildly souped-up BMW 2002 roundie that he wrecked after a year or so of somewhat unhinged driving. Two students were driving MGBs, one BRG and one white (not year round, this was Massachusetts). And not just the day students–there was a 911 Carrera with Virginia plates in one of the parking lots and I was asked a couple of times if it was mine, since I was from Virginia; it turned out to belong to a kid from North Carolina.
I drove a bike, a pair of Nike Blazers, and my monthly copy of Car and Driver.
I didn’t get my license til I turned 18 – which being in July, was after I graduated.
Reading DED Jr and the others is how I knew how to drive a manual transmission before I ever got behind the wheel.
1986 Chevrolet Suburban Silverado 4×4 1/2 ton.
All dark blue cloth interior, three rows of bench seats (that weren’t very comfortable), manual hubs, and it was the last year of the quadrajet carb. It made it to almost 200k.
It was mostly good, but I really wish it was a TBI motor because those were easier to work on vs. the last Q-jets. I also which it had a better heater for that much cabin.
Learned how to drive on the old man’s 1959 Imperial Lebaron. Pure land yacht, fins, rocket tail lights, 413 wedge, a push button torqeflite, and a metric fvck ton of chrome.
1st car, not said land yacht unfortunately, 82 Honda civic wagon with 5spd. The paint was shot so I rattle canned a landscape and stenciled a bunch of grateful dead bears dancing. …It was the 90s!
Yamaha Towny
Kawasaki KZ650
Triumph TR7
Pontiac Grand Ville
Those are just the ones I held the title to; family cars were
Toyota Starlet
VW Rabbit diesel
Camaro convertible (1st gen)
Back in the early 80’s my dad had an auto parts store so on days i drove into school, it was usually the small delivery truck so i could make deliveries on the way home. it was a mid-70’s Chevy C10(?) with a cab on the back. 6 cylinder, with a three on the tree.
My senior year I got my brother’s hand-me down, a salvage titled 1977 Rabbit. It was bliss. I still miss it.
1978 Jeep CJ7
1996 Geo Tracker
1991 Mazda Miata
There were three things I hated in high school. Algebra, Preppy kids, and having a dry vehicle.
Hand-me-down 1979 Buick Riviera Type S with the Turbo V6 making a whopping 170hp and all the turbo lag you could handle. In retrospect, it was way more interesting and luxurious than I deserved. And it was such a weird mix of technologies – turbo, but carbureted, FWD but longitudinal.
If I was lucky, I got to drive my Mom’s Volvo 740 turbo wagon.
Nothing sadly I had to either walk the ~2miles to school everyday or my mom drove me when she didn’t have work. Couldn’t afford a car until I was 19 and that was my POS 97 Dakota with a 5.2.
A very rusty 1979 VW Scirocco, or sometimes my dad’s ’85 Golf. Or for very special occasions like prom, my mom’s ’87 Audi 5000.
First a ’72 Mazda truck that was kinda fun but no a/c and was built well before Japanese vehicles became known for reliability (it did not help build that reputation). It was replaced by my dad’s former company car, a 2 year old ’71 Impala 4 door hardtop, gold with gold panty cloth upholstery and a black vinyl top. That had visible rust bubbles under the vinyl – in Texas, where the only salt that car ever saw was the occasional box of Morton’s in a grocery bag. Also, one of the first glued in windshields, that came loose and leaked onto the a/c duct and then onto the accelerator foot, with the flow through ventilation that always had the fan blowing, but no heat because the control valve had rusted shut (on a two year old Texas car). There wasn’t even primer on the upper part of the rear quarter panels inside the trunk – just surface rust. It did hold up pretty well to being hit by a semi, though.
They just don’t build them like they used to… thank Chthulhu.
1994 Accord EX Coupe (4cyl Automatic) the first few months I had my license. Then sold the Accord because I wanted a truck. Got a 95 Chevy S10 SS- 4.3L Auto, standard cab shortbed with posi. Did a lot of burnouts in that truck through high school.
Occasionally drove my parents 1998 Grand Cherokee as well, usually if the weather was bad.