Deep Purple and my first car.

The 1965 Chevy Biscayne 4 door. It was my first car. And more than that, it was my freedom to a whole new world of causing serious trouble. That was probably why my Dad found this car for me. I had saved up all of my extra cash from working at Meijer to buy this steel beast. It was part of an estate sale, and had been sitting in a garage for 10 years. $700 dollars, and it was mine. This was 1984. The chariot only had 36,000 original miles on a VERY underpowered 230 ci V6. But it was mine. Now I could drive to school, work  and to my friends house without having to answer to anyone.

Now this thing was huge. I mean, you could put 6 people in this car, and still have room to move. It took me and my friends everywhere. I remember piling in this car with my friends and going to the Krokus/Sammy Hagar concert in Kalamazoo. I'll never forget Joe Ehrenberg driving down the road on the way home with a Krokus headband on

The fenders had a unique function as not only protection, but as a fridge. let me explain. When you opened the front doors, it would expose the inside of the enclosed fender. You could easily put a 6 pack in each fender WITH ICE! As the ice melted, it ran out the bottom. GENIUS! If you wanted a mobile party, this was the beast to get you there.

Winter came, and if you're from the Saint Joseph area, you know how nasty it can get. This thing would just haul ass down Glenlord Road with snow drifting over the hood, and it never once failed me. The only time I got stuck was in my driveway because I was too damn lazy to shovel it.

Never did I love a car as much as I loved this one. It was a DEEP purple, and we always cracked jokes about that. Deep Purple's perfect Strangers cassette was always cranked in the tape player.The paint was pretty oxidized and if you rubbed your finger on the car, it would turn it purple. No amount of buffing would stop it, I was afraid it would be bare metal before I was through.

There was a girl that worked at Meijer that had the same exact car as I did, except it was brown, and had a 3 speed manual transmission. three on the tree! If you don't know what that means, I'll explain it. Nowadays when you say manual transmission, you think of a stickshift by your right hand. Not this. The three on the tree was a shifter on the steering column. If you have never seen one before, it looks like any normal shifter, but I DEFY you to try it without grinding or missing gears.

I also racked up 16 points on my license in this car. Speeding tickets, parking tickets, stupid tickets abound. i was on a date once, and was pulled over speeding. She was less than impressed. Yes, this car got me into a LOT of trouble, but it was a workhorse. Then the beginning of the end to my awesome beast.

One very icy and snowy night, I was finishing my shift at Meijer. My friend Kurt VonKoening and I left at the same time. usually we grab a burger across the street, and then head for home. He got in his car and said that he would meet me at Burger King. He then did a slick donut on the snowy parking lot, and turned towards the main road. I figured I could do a better one.

Now I had just purchased a case of Faygo soda. Glass bottles in a flat. Multiple flavors. It was next to me in the front seat. i started to accelerate, and went into the spin. The donut was awesome. I looked back and there was a motorcycle pole that I had run over. I said out loud to myself how funny that was.

Then I hit the cement light pole. I hit that sucker at about 30mph. Head on. My chin hit the hard steering wheel, and chipped the bone, and the Faygo slid off and shattered all over the floor of the car. It was an ocean of fruity flavors, and the smell was incredible. The car stalled. I got out to survey the damage, and it was not good. The grill was smashed in, and the fan was now in the radiator. the drivers side headlight was knocked out of the housing, and was just hanging by the connectors.

I was in deep trouble. Not only was my dad my dad, he was my boss at Meijer. After about 10 minutes Kurt came back to see what was keeping me. he saw the car, and asked what happened, even though I'm sure he knew what my stupidity had caused. surprisingly, it started right back up, and I was able to back it off of the light pole, and into a parking spot. Kurt took me home, and I had to face my Dad when I got there. Nothing like lying to you father at 11:30pm about how a patch of ice caused me to lose control as I was leaving work and crashed into Meijer store property. What was worse is that it had to sit there overnight for all the morning shift employees to see. Everyone new it was my car, and my Dad was LESS than pleased.

The next afternoon, Joe brought his fathers wrecker from his gas station, and we hauled it back there. Now if anyone reading this blog remembers Joe's father, Bill Ehrenberg, he was a helluva nice guy. But he had no tolerance for stupidity, and he let me have it on several occasions. But he was the one that always fixed my cars for years. He was able to replace the radiator, and fix the fan. We ended up just taking some bailing wire, and mounting the headlight to the bumper. The front was still caved in, but it ran like a top. the car was a beast, and it was proving it longevity.

I bought another car soon after, and parked the Biscayne in the garage to use as a winter vehicle. It sat for 3 months. I ended up selling the newer car, and pulled this baby out of the garage to once again be my daily driver. After a few months however, it started running worse and worse. It eventually became a back-up only car, and the end was coming soon.

I sold that car one fall afternoon for $200. It was destined to be in a demolition derby. A very unfitting end to what had been not only my first car, but a part of me.

The Biscayne was my first ride. It was in this car I had my first date, my first kiss, my first ticket, my first taste of freedom, and now it was gone. I loved that car. So much so, that years later I bought another one. Same year, same color same everything. I ended up not being able to keep it, but this one went to a good home. Is it still around? I don't know. But my first car will always be in my heart.