#Car March 13

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Today contribution to the 30-Day Letter Writing Coach4aday Challenge is on your first CAR.

The challenge involves composing a letter to yourself when you were an earlier age. The goal is to focus on a value, habit, or choice that needs to be adopted or made.

Today’s letter is what driving a vehicle in 1970 that had safety and performance issues will teach you.

Day 13-Letter-First Ride

1970

Dear Teenage Dan:

This letter is about the first CAR you will get to drive as a licensed driver. In State of New Jersey in the 1960’s you cannot obtain a license until you are 17. So, your foray into having a car of you own will not take place until the Spring of 1970.

In late 1969 right after Christmas your late Uncle Eugene V. Kenney from Hawthorne NJ (11/27/1910-10/7/1985) will give your dad a car he isn’t driving any more. It will be a 1961 Black Corvair and it will become your first car. There are probably plenty of good reasons why you Uncle wasn’t driving it anymore.

In 1965 a book called Unsafe at Any Speed: The Designed-In Dangers of the American Automobile by Ralph Nader really blasted the Corvair. Many articles list it as one of the 10 most dangerous cars to drive EVER!!

That car will teach you a few things. One that it’s air-cooled engine (located in rear of car) will be hard on fan belts and oil. Your dad’s penchant for being prepared will have you always traveling with an extra fan belt and a quart of oil. You will replace or adjust that fan belt more than once.

The Corvair will humble you when you engage in comparison to the muscle cars of the late 1960’s. You will deal with the reality you aren’t driving a GTO, Chevelle SS, Dodge Charger, or Plymouth Duster. Nevertheless you will be ecstatic to have access to a car and appreciate what your Uncle Gene did for you.

Grown Up Dan