Our first car, the ‘our,’ in this case, being my first husband, Peter Steinau and me, was purchased in Chicago so we had a convenient way to escape the city. This was in 1965. We got a used Simca, a French car. It did have its problems but got us out of the city on camping trips, our favorite being the city park in Popejoy, Iowa. However, when they imported the car, they neglected to import the spare parts. This made even minor repairs a challenge. Things went along fairly well, however, until the car was stolen by someone who entered it through the trunk. We got the car back, but it was never the same again. For one thing, when you made a hard right turn, the horn would blow. Also some driving maneuver, although I can’t remember which, started the windshield wipers. Whenever there was someone parking it for us, which did happen sometimes in Chicago, we had to warn them. We decided to sell it but felt bad hoisting it onto some poor unsuspecting soul. However we found a couple who absolutely loved Simcas in spite of their idiosyncratic personalities and were thrilled to buy it from us.

The next car I remember was a sedan, possibly a Dodge. We paid $50 for it and it served us well when we lived in Mount Carol, IL, first in town and then in a rural farmhouse in Jo Davies county. This is when I developed my philosophy of car purchase – buy a serviceable but cheap car, drive it until its life’s end, and then push it off of a cliff. This was the beginning of a series of pre-junk cars. I never actually pushed any of them off a cliff though.

When we moved to the farm house, we ended up with several broken down junkers that sometimes were reluctant to start. Fortunately we had a very long driveway with a good downhill slope which we would use to get a rolling start and pop the clutch to start the car. You can get a good accumulation of dead cars by the side of the gravel road that way! I have no idea of the specifics of these assorted vehicles. I do remember that Pete cut down the back of the old Dodge to create a “truck” in order to haul hay and chicken feed as we had a good flock of birds and sold eggs to our friends in town. We must have ultimately purchased somewhat more reliable cars because I had to drive the 30 miles to Freeport to work, mostly on gravel roads, and Pete had to get to Mt Carroll for classes.

When we returned to Chicago, separately this time, I don’t think I owned a vehicle for at least the first year, using public transportation or my bicycle instead. The next vehicle I remember clearly brought me to Wisconsin. It was an old blue Econoline Van. I loved that van. My daughter Casey and I arrived in Madison in that van, all of our worldly possessions easily loaded in the back. That van served me well, both for work and pleasure. I put an old mattress in the back so it was great for camping, including when my friend Dot and I went to hear Bill Monroe at his Bean Blossom bluegrass festival, outside of Morganton Indiana. (But that is another story.)

That beloved van did have its quirks, reminiscent of the Simca. There were holes in the floorboards that allowed water to shoot up when it rained. It had no heat. The most interesting idiosyncrasy however was the sticky flutter valve in the carbonator. It would stick, often at a very inopportune moment such as the middle of an intersection. Fortunately I learned to deal with this. The engine was located between the two front seats. I always drove around without the carbonator covered. When the valve stuck, I simply lifted the engine cover up, bashed the valve with the wooden end of an old snow scraper, and went merrily on my way, feeling very smug.

I finally bought my first new car about the time we moved to Windsor, WI. It was a little Honda Civic hatchback. This was ultimately followed by a new Chevy Geo Metro. I put well over 200,000 on that great little car, but I don’t know exactly how many because the odometer broke somewhere along the way.

My adventures with old cars did not stop there, however. I married Bob Park who owned, at the time, an ancient beige VW bug whose driver seat was held up by a 2x4. Need I say more!