My Cars Through The Years, Part 2

When I came home for Christmas break during my freshman year at college, it was clear that I had to do something about my Duster.  The driver’s door was bashed in and did not open, the window leaked, and the cooling system was beginning to act up. My grandfather was in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease and could no longer drive.  My grandmother hadn’t driven for years, but they still had their 1970 Buick LeSabre just sitting in the parking lot at their apartment building.  My grandmother said I was welcome to it, since they had no use for it, and the big Buick became mine.

Despite it’s big size and the fact that it was incredibly uncool, it was a really good car.  It had a 350 c.i. engine that was very reliable, and we could squeeze a lot of people and luggage into it.  The summer after I got it, I had it painted bright red, so it didn’t look quite so lame.

The door handle on the driver’s side rusted out and fell off, so I had to keep a screwdriver handy to open the door (or reach inside if the window was open).   This caused a problem on one occasion.  I was driving in traffic when I ran out of gas.  There was a gas station at the corner, about 1/4 mile ahead, so I hopped out and started pushing, steering the car through the driver’s side window.  I didn’t notice that the road went slightly downhill to the gas station.  Yep, you guessed it — the car started picking up speed and I had to run to catch up with it, while trying to reach in the window and open the door.  Somehow I managed to do it, jump in and steer it into the gas station.

The big Buick served me well for the next 3 years.  But I had a bit of trouble with it during one semester at school and I ended up driving another car briefly.  That will be part 3 of our journey.