You Never Forget Your First

I recently came across these pictures which show the painful demise of my first Impala.  This was back in the later 80's and I had bought this 1977 Impala from a friend who was leaving to join the Navy.  I don't remember exactly what I paid for it but it was in the $200 to $300 range.  It had a lot of little spots of rust all over it but it was fairly solid, even the floors.  This was the car that got me to love driving these '77-'79 Impala/Caprice cars.  I think it had about 77,000 miles on it when I got it and it provided me a lot of reliable transportation for close to three years.  

At the time the incident in the pictures occurred my then-fiance was using the car to commute to college and my main ride was a 1977 Chevrolet pickup.  She was stopped on a highway to make a left turn and a full-size 80's Bronco bailed into the back end after the driver failed to see her until it was too late to avoid the collision.

We didn't have any money but I think we got $400 from the other person's insurance company.  Shortly after I found a 1978 Caprice sedan with no engine or transmission for $75 and I pulled the 305 out of the wrecked one and put that in the '78.  I never liked that one quite as much but it did have air conditioning that worked as long as I added a can of r12 every couple of months.

But that first Impala I owned will always have a place in my heart and memory.

So painful to look

Ouch. That's a pianful picture to look at...in more ways than one. I have to admit, I'm impressed that it held up like it did, those old broncos were made of pig iron and dark matter.

My first B body...my first car, was destroyed last year in a fire. I'm still not quite over it. I picked up another one, but it's the same thing: There are things that the other one had that I miss and so on.