Updated June 23, 2020

David says: Sherry and I were talking about buying another car, and whether we can make it with one car these days. Maybe we’ll replace our older car in a few years, maybe not. Then we realized: that purchase could possibly be the last car we buy for our working careers. Time hurries on.

We remembered the first car that we bought, in college, 1984: a Renault Alliance. Turns out it was a classic lemon! At the time it seemed like a wise purchase…it was 1983’s Motor Trend’s Car of the Year and number one on Car and Driver's list of the Ten Best Cars. It had front wheel drive, good mileage and was reasonably priced. And the USA/AMC and French/Renault concept fit my family makeup. My maternal grandmother was from France, and my mother and most of my siblings spoke French. Seemed right. We named the car Opus, after the floundering penguin in the Bloom Country comic strip.

Opus was an apt name. It was slow and waddling and never took flight. The motor sounded like a sewing machine (until mysterious clinking noises started in its second year). It quickly became clear that our Alliance was actually one with Hell. But it gave us freedom, took us where we needed to go. It took us on our honeymoon to Wisconsin and Chicago, it held our first baby seat in 1986. And it helped move us a couple of times. It was maybe five years before we decided that “Unsafe at Any Speed” barely scratched the surface with this car. I believe AMC only built them for a couple of years.

We lived through it. What do you remember about your first car?    

Sherry says: I love this question for reminiscing with personal history clients, because so many of us have a first car and at least one good story that goes with it. For you, it might have been the car of your first fender-bender, your first road trip, and your first traffic ticket.

For me, that dreadful beige Renault was the car in which David taught me to drive, and we had a few conflicts in the process. I was 20 years old when David bought the car. He did all the homework to select a good and affordable car, AND it was brand-new. It was a big deal because David worked tons of hours in two different jobs to pay his rent and other expenses while in college, and this car payment was a commitment.

I had some time behind the wheel but not a lot, and no driver’s license, but wanted to get one. David became my instructor and quite soon we learned more about each other and how we communicate! We survived the experience, but I’ll just leave turn signal clicks and coasting in neutral issues here as well.

A few other stories that took place in this ugly car include:

• The time we took David’s brother, sister-in-law and their son to Chicago from Des Moines on what seemed like one never-ending sheet of ice. I remember David and his brother clutching steering wheel and dashboard, respectively, with white knuckles. Me, my sister-in-law and 6-year-old nephew sat in the back, in near silence for more than eight hours.

•  The car had an affinity for attracting bad karma. It was in the shop for some repair once when, while there, someone rear-ended it. Thankfully it was all repaired for free, but the car was a disaster magnet.

• The Renault’s final swansong occurred shortly after we made our final payment on the 4-year loan when the transmission crashed. By that time we inherited a 12-year old rusted-out Caprice Classic from a family member to use as a second car, we thought of the Caprice as a luxury vehicle by comparison to the Renault lemon.

First car stories are low hanging fruit when it comes to remembering. Give the reminiscing exercise a try for relating your life story. Place the story in a life journal post or just tell the story to a friend and see if the same bug doesn’t encourage all kinds of conversation!

Want more prompts for telling life story? Check out Tell Me Another at Storied Gifts Shop. This is a game that will have you and friends telling tales that will surprise everyone!  

Image by Mic, via Flickr Creative Commons

Sherry is the founder of Storied Gifts a personal publishing service of family and company histories. She and her team help clients curate and craft their stories into books. When not writing or interviewing, Sherry spends loads of time with her grandchildren and lives in Des Moines, Iowa.

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