Rockin’ Down the Highway

“Got those highway blues, can’t you hear my motor runnin’?
Flyin’ down the road with my foot on the floor
All the way in town they can hear me comin’
Ford’s about to drop, she won’t do no more
And I smell my motor burnin’
Underneath the hood is smoke
Can’t stop, and I can’t stop
Got to keep movin’ on or I’ll lose my mind
Oh, rockin’ down the highway”

Tom Johnston- The Doobie Brothers (1972)

We have no documentation and few photos, so just for fun Eva and I tried to come up with a list of all the cars we’ve owned over the years. The years are shaky, and some of the models/colors we struggled to remember, but we got most of them. Here are some of my favorite cars from the ones I’ve owned from the past 50 years. (The model years are approximate.)

1966 Chevy Impala Supersport

When I turned 16, I couldn’t wait to get my learner’s permit. I was annoyed that my dad made me wait until I was 17, but I finally got my license after much pleading. I needed a car to commute to college (Temple University), so I got a hand-me-down from my father, a 66 Chevy Impala Supersport. He even gave it a new paint job, added racing stripes to the hood, and installed a portable cassette player for me. The car had some engine problems, but it got me through school and my first job. Lots of great memories cruising around with friends in that car. Here’s a stock photo of the car as I remember it, along with a photo of dad painting the car before passing it on to me. I sure wish I took a picture of it after it was painted, but we just didn’t take pictures of everything back then. And oh how I wish I just paid to get it fixed up- how cool would it be to still own this car today!

1980 Datsun 310

When the Chevy died, it was time for me to buy my own car. I desperately wanted a new car, and about the only thing I liked that I could afford was a Datsun 310 hatchback. I got a manual transmission, which I had no idea how to drive. Luckily I had met Eva by then, and she taught me how to drive the stick. It was fun on the highway, but I hated when I got a red light on a hill- it took me a while to conquer moving forward without slipping backward. But it was a good car, and lasted several years. Here’s a stock photo of my Datsun as I remember it.

1983 Mitsubishi Starion

Eva and I got married and finally started making some money as we both got jobs at Merck. I was now ready for a new car, and the new Mitsubishi Starion turbo-charged sportscar caught my eye. It was certainly a step up from the Datsun. And I loved the super-cool digital dashboard- it looked like a car from the future. It was a sweet ride, but it had a lot of engine problems over time. Still, it was one of my favorite cars. I actually took a picture of this one, outside of our first home in Lansdale.

1990 Lexus LS400

After the Starion died, I was in the market for a new car. I was hearing a lot of buzz about Lexus cars at the time. I decided to step up my game with a more professional luxury sedan, and purchased a Lexus LS400. I guess I was going for the “Merck executive” look. The LS400 was among the first luxury sedans to feature an automatic tilt-and-telescoping steering wheel with SRS airbag, power adjustable shoulder seat belts, and an electrochromic rear-view mirror. The five-passenger cabin included walnut and leather trim, power-adjustable seats, and soft-touch controls. The memory system stored the driver’s seat, side mirror, steering wheel, and seat belt positions. The LS 400 contained some 300 technological innovations to aid smooth operation and silence. It was certainly a classy car.

1998 Lincoln Navigator

Eva had a Mercury Sable Station Wagon and then a Toyota Sienne Minivan when we had children, but eventually I wanted something more sporty. In 1998, Lincoln came out with a monster of a luxury SUV, the 7-passenger Lincoln Navigator. I loved the car, although it got horrible gas mileage. It was perfect for taking the kids on our scouting camping trips, and family vacations. And I felt “cooler” than when we were driving around town in a minivan. It was a great family car, but a bit too big for me for daily driving, like pulling into the little Harleysville Wawa parking lot.

2000 Volvo S60

With our oldest son approaching driving age, we decided to get a car which we would eventually pass on to him when he got his license. Naturally safety was a big concern, so we opted to go with the new Volvo S60, which had a great reputation for safety. That car had all the safety features you could ever want- front and rear integrated crumple zones, driver and front passenger dual threshold airbags with a collapsible three-stage steering column, a Side Impact Protection System supplemented with air bags for driver and front passenger, along with a side curtain airbag for front and rear passengers, anti-submarine seats, and five padded head restraints with a Whiplash Protection System. That was one solid car. I drove the Volvo for several years, and really enjoyed it. But when my son got his license, I passed the keys to him. Unfortunately, he totaled the car within a week of getting his license. The good news is he was in a Volvo and wasn’t physically injured in the crash. We were so thankful we made sure our other two sons were also driving Volvos when they first got their licenses.

1985 Buick LaSabre

When my dad passed away unexpectedly in 2010, my mother gave me his 1985 Buick LaSabre. As much as I loved the Lexus convertible, it didn’t have a lot of room and was costly to maintain, so I sold it. My new daily car was a 25-year old classic. It made me feel like an old man, yet I loved the nostalgia of driving my late father’s car. I added an upgraded stereo with a CD player, and enjoyed driving the LaSabre for several years. I still remember one day at Sellersville Theater when I had to drive the famous rock star Leon Russell to the theater. I was a bit embarrassed to drive him in my old clunker of a car, but he loved it. Leon told me “They don’t make cars like this any more!”

2015 Chevy Cruze

When my dad’s car finally broke down, I once again was in the market for a new car. I didn’t need anything big, as Eva had a Honda Odyssey minivan for family trips. At the time, my son had a Chevy Cruze and I liked the look and the price, so I followed his recommendation. That was a great little car. I believe I leased the Cruze, and when the lease was up, I liked the car so much I leased another Cruze. I was disappointed when they stopped making them, but that opened up the door for my next car adventure- going all electric!

2021 Chevy Bolt EUV

I was a bit nervous about going electric, but I fell in love with the Bolt from the start. Chevy installed a level-2 charger in my garage at no cost, and that was the end of my buying gas. The range was somewhat limited, but it was fine for most of my daily drives, and I just plugged it in at night. There was a bit of a commotion right after I bought it when it was reported that some of the Bolt batteries were catching on fire. It got more news than it deserved, as the battery defect was extremely rare, but they put in a software fix to limit the maximum charging, and that resolved the issue. There is always a learning curve with new technology, but I never regretted going electric. I did opt to lease it, so I had an easy return in 3 years if I wasn’t happy with it. And with EV technology constantly increasing, I figured in 3 years there would be continued improvement and more choices for electric vehicles. But the Bolt certainly sold me on the technology.

2023 Tesla Model S

And that brings me to the present. After hearing from so many friends who owned Teslas, I decided to dive in and splurge on a Tesla Model S. Oh my- what a car! It made my Bolt feel like a kiddie car. The Tesla hugs the road and is incredibly fast (0 to 60 in 3 seconds). It took a while to figure out all the features- it is so much more technologically advanced than any car I’ve ever owned. In fact, when I first took it to get inspected, my local mechanic had to ask me how to find the current mileage. And I had to read the manual to figure out how to open the glove box (everything is done from the touch screen). I love that there is virtually no maintenance, other than rotating tires- there is nothing under the hood except storage space. The 400-mile range is more than enough to get me anywhere I want to go. The only time I need to charge it away from home is when I’m travelling to another state, and the car automatically routes you to a charger when needed, so it’s never an issue. The unique features are limitless- mind-blowing self-driving capability; 7 cameras so you can see on your phone at any time the inside and surroundings of the car; normal/sport/insane acceleration modes; no keys (it just senses my phone and locks/unlocks automatically when I approach the car); car karaoke; a Trax app for composing music; video games for when you’re sitting in the parking lot after a game waiting for the crowd to clear; a sound and light show set to music with the windows, trunk, and lights moving and flashing to the beat of the music; and it can even make fart noises from any seat in the car on demand- it doesn’t get any better than that! Unfortunately, the price of the car actually dropped by $20,000 2 weeks after I bought it, and there was nothing we could do about it- they weren’t giving refunds. But I plan on keeping the car a long time, and I bought it more for the enjoyment than for a financial investment, so I didn’t get too worked up about it. It’s an amazing car.

Those were a few of my personal favorite rides over my lifetime. What were yours?