My first and only car is a bicycle. I've had it for about 15 years now and it's still going strong. Also: I don't have a driver's license. Never got one.
I had a student card for "All Zones" which actually let me travel through most of Zealand on public transport. I'm pretty sure I made good use of it and went to "far off" places like Helsingør, Gillleleje, etc. Good times!
Denmark is rather well connected in terms of public transport, so you can reach most places with just no more than 2 transfers or so. Maybe 3 in extreme cases.
Meh, traveling around Old Zealand sounds lame. Why not opt for the new version?
Legit though, and I'm sure we've talked about this already, but I sure would love to see the US transportation system become way more accessible, like much of Europe's. We built this place up right as cars were becoming a hot new thing, unfortunately.
I'm actually in the process of listening to Roman Mars's breakdown of "The Power Broker" book about Robert Moses, his rise to power, and his massive impact on New York. A huge chunk of it is about him prioritizing highways and expressways for cars at the expense of almost everything else.
Curious how some people can single-handedly shape the entire infrastructure of a region.
I haven't even heard of Robert Caro and "The Power Broker" until the 99% Invisible podcast brought him up, but after listening to their breakdown, I'd actually be curious to pick up the book. And yes, they made it abundantly clear just how much painstaking research, love for detail, and evocative writing went into the book.
I spent about ten days. A couple of days in Copenhagen, a couple of days on a farm in Skivholme, and the rest in Stockholm. Highlights were the Louisiana art museum north of Copenhagen, and the Vasa museum in Stockholm.
In 2006 I went on a solo tour of Scandinavia, and made use of Denmark’s (and Sweden’s) excellent public transportation. The only time I had to walk a great distance was to get from Borum to Skivholme, where I stayed a few nights. But what a beautiful walk through the Danish countryside that was.
I don't remember the make or model of my first car, but I remember I paid a whooping $99 for it. A dealership was doing an event where they were slashing prices and that clunker was one of the $99 ones. Of course, it needed about $1000 worth of work, but that's still a good deal.
Dang! That's awesome. I would not want something like that these days (way too much headache), but something I could put some elbow grease into like that would have been a gold mine! Great find.
My father gave me a 1972 Subaru. It was so rusted out, there were holes in the floor, which was covered with pieces of household carpeting. The front fenders were one good bump away from falling off. The engine had been re-built...mostly. It had a curious habit: it would die for 3 seconds, then come back to life. I'd be booming along at a top speed of 50mph and it would die, coast for 3 seconds, then roar back to life (ok...it coughed and sputtered, it never roared.) The entire electrical system was more corrosion than system, but somehow it kept running.
My friend Bill would push the emptied aluminum cans out the hole in the floor.
It ran and it got me around and it was a fun little car. I learned to drive stick in that POS.
That's great! I never had a car that had holes in the floor covered by carpets, but I'm pretty sure I rode in a few of these. Also: that Ford Escort had this type of carpet you could sort of peel back and see the thin metal floor, so I was very cognizant that there was not much separating my feet from the pavement below.
Also pretty sure I know exactly what you mean about a car stopping and then restarting on the highway like that. Wing and a prayer, baby!
1987. I was 28 and had been in school (college & grad school) for a decade, during which time I did not need a car, which was good thing since I couldn't afford one.
The car was a beater, but low mileage, 50K like your care. A pre-embargo model that was a mid-sized 2-door sports coupe that was longer than a (then-modern) caddie. It had the *smallest* engine of its model year (350 V* two barrel carb) and was a real gas hog--got 10 mpg. Gas cost me 10 cents a mile then. Today I drive a decade-old Prius C and gas is less than 10 cents a mile. Progress. :)
Huge progress! But still, I love thinking about those old days. I was super fortunate to be able to own a car when I was essentially still a kid, but I sure did make good use of that car before utterly destroying it. :)
My car was tiny, but some of those cars were so damn long!
Datsun 210b. I still miss that car. It was a piece of shit but just took a beating. And had a killer stereo system that I installed. Actually the stereo was crappy too but I remember it being amazing. IT HD A REMOVABLE FACE! I rarely actually removed it, but still...
Navy blue Chevy cavalier. Think it was an 85. Drove it though the last two years of high school, delivered pizzas with mine too. Kind of met a similar end-got into a minor accident and sustained some bad front end damage and I sold it for peanuts right after I graduated
Dang! We have a lot of similarities. I'll write about my time in a movie theater soon too. Andrew Sniderman also worked at a movie theater and wrote a little something for me!
Funnily enough, I’ve just bought my first car, at the ripe old age of 40-something. I passed my driving test at 18 (the driving age in the UK is 17) but since then have basically always lived in cities where public transport has been good, and in China where I didn’t really want or need to drive. So I would just drive my mum’s car when I was home visiting, or hire a car when I needed one, or use a city car share scheme.
Now, though, I’ve moved back to rural Scotland where a car is kind of essential. A colleague of my sister’s was moving to New Zealand and selling her car, a Toyota Aygo, 10 years old but just 33,000 miles on the clock, great condition and a decent price. I felt ridiculously nervous going to pick it up, hoping I was doing all the legal stuff correctly, hoping it didn’t turn out to be a dud, but now I’m the proud owner of my first car and so far it’s going great. Now I just need to figure out the stereo 😂
My first car was an AMC Gremlin; I think 1971, maybe 1972 model? Anyway, my uncle had it in back because the timing gear had stripped and it didn't run; I was told I could drive it if I got it running. There's quite a tale to tell there and I'll publish it here on Substack one day...
Oh man. Gremlins, Pintos, and Yugos! I think the Escort I had was just one tiny step up from those cars. Ever see the fake ad for the "Adobe" car? Makes me think of my days driving this little death trap:
My first car was a 1988 Mazda pickup, but the second (a 1990 Ford Ranger) had more of a lasting impact. I drove the Ranger for seven years, and by the time I could afford another vehicle, it was really sketchy about shifting from first to second gear.
It was two years old when I bought it in 1992, and I traded it in 1999. It was a nice truck, but the last year of driving was sketchy because of the dying transmission.
Dang! I bought my first new car in 2000. It was a really practical car for the time - Toyota Corolla, standard, very reliable. That was a huge jump up from cars that were closer to ten years old. I would suspect that having a 2 year old car for you in 92 was just ideal.
1963 Toyota Corona. My dad drove me from Mountain Home to Moscow, Idaho to buy it from my oldest brother, who needed the $300 I paid for it for some reason. I learned how to drive a stick on the way home.
These were really different times. I think there was a big jump in between when you were able to learn to drive on the road home and my time driving (I was firmly planted in driver's ed prior to ever touching the wheel, although that's maybe not true because I seem to recall driving from my dad's lap as a very young kid), and then an even bigger jump in between when I learned to drive and today... at least, I kind of hope there's more scrutiny given to kids before they get behind giant murder machines. Maybe I'm turning into a curmudgeon in my old age, I dunno.
I did drive Dad's F-100 pickup in the sagebrushy acreage before that epic trip up to Moscow...
Fond memories of guiding my daughter not too many years ago as she practiced backing up. We drove backwards around a parking lot for quite a while until she was comfortable turning the wheel in non-intuitive directions to go backwards and back in to a parking spot.
I mean, my Escort was manufactured 9 years after I was born. I was NOT about to be able to get a new car at that point, but a car that was as relatively young as this one was something else.
My first was a 1979 Toyota Land Cruiser. Mustard "monkey puke" yellow. Fold down seats on the sides in back. Air conditioning consisted of flaps down by the feet and wing windows by the side mirrors. No power steering. No power windows. No power brakes. Top speed was 50 mph. All this meant that I was one hot, buff chick that everyone could see (because I lived in the high desert and it was so bright and slow). My dad said he picked it out of me so he could take it elk hunting. I think it was so I wouldn't get a speeding ticket.
I loved that car.
My parents still saw the guy who bought it from us driving it around recently--he'd put in a new engine. Presumably so he could get out of the slow lane in the the interstate...
That's rad! My current car (I bought it in 2011) had no power steering and no AC, and it is standard (stick shift). I asked for it, and I got it. I really like the simplicity: there's just way less that could go wrong.
Do you know about what year it was that you got the Land Cruiser?
It would’ve been 1987 or 1988. Remember the scene in Fried Green Tomatoes with Kathy Bates rammed the younger girl’s car “Face it, girls, I’m older and I have more insurance.” An older gal in a tiny sedan tried to pull into a parking spot I was clearly waiting for. I honked and leaned my head out the window and told her, “My bumper is bigger than yours. I wouldn’t take that spot.” 🤣 the thing was a beast!
Exactly! now that I have a kid that’s terrifying and I certainly wasn’t old enough to have a fully functioning brain. I think i was 20 when I got my first motorcycle and then I got a 2nd bigger one - Seca 400 after that. I know my dad made me take a motorcycle safety class but we’re talking LA here. My first car that I got to drive was a 80s puke green Ford Maverick with a lime green fender that my sister’s boyfriend got at pick-your-part after she crashed into something. The first care I owned (again thanks to my dad) was a white Mazda b2000 pickup that I loved and outfitted with a shell and a shag blue carpet kit. That one lasted me well into my 20s and didn’t cause me the same bodily damage the motorsickles did
I guess when you think about motorcycles vs cars, one good thing is that a kid isn't likely to ruin someone else's property with a motorcycle. That seems like pretty small consolation that really devalues human life, though!
Mine was a 93 Ford Probe. Fun little car and cost me $2000. It had more miles though.
My current car is a 2000 Ford Excursion.
My first and only car is a bicycle. I've had it for about 15 years now and it's still going strong. Also: I don't have a driver's license. Never got one.
Can you tell I live in Denmark?
When was the first time you ventured out to another city on your own? Was that pretty easy via the transportation you had as a kid?
I had a student card for "All Zones" which actually let me travel through most of Zealand on public transport. I'm pretty sure I made good use of it and went to "far off" places like Helsingør, Gillleleje, etc. Good times!
Denmark is rather well connected in terms of public transport, so you can reach most places with just no more than 2 transfers or so. Maybe 3 in extreme cases.
Meh, traveling around Old Zealand sounds lame. Why not opt for the new version?
Legit though, and I'm sure we've talked about this already, but I sure would love to see the US transportation system become way more accessible, like much of Europe's. We built this place up right as cars were becoming a hot new thing, unfortunately.
I'm actually in the process of listening to Roman Mars's breakdown of "The Power Broker" book about Robert Moses, his rise to power, and his massive impact on New York. A huge chunk of it is about him prioritizing highways and expressways for cars at the expense of almost everything else.
Curious how some people can single-handedly shape the entire infrastructure of a region.
I love Robert Caro's writing. It's somehow insanely detailed, and yet I actually care about those details.
He really brings you along for Caro's ambitious rise and inglorious fall. It's fantastic writing.
I haven't even heard of Robert Caro and "The Power Broker" until the 99% Invisible podcast brought him up, but after listening to their breakdown, I'd actually be curious to pick up the book. And yes, they made it abundantly clear just how much painstaking research, love for detail, and evocative writing went into the book.
I spent about ten days. A couple of days in Copenhagen, a couple of days on a farm in Skivholme, and the rest in Stockholm. Highlights were the Louisiana art museum north of Copenhagen, and the Vasa museum in Stockholm.
I was gonna reach out to Dan whenever I visit Denmark, but now I'm gonna give you a shout instead! That actually sounds really fun.
That's quite a packed schedule for such a short visit. Well played!
In 2006 I went on a solo tour of Scandinavia, and made use of Denmark’s (and Sweden’s) excellent public transportation. The only time I had to walk a great distance was to get from Borum to Skivholme, where I stayed a few nights. But what a beautiful walk through the Danish countryside that was.
Man, that sounds like an awesome trip. You probably ended up seeing more of Denmark than I have. How many days/weeks did you spend in Scandinavia?
I don't remember the make or model of my first car, but I remember I paid a whooping $99 for it. A dealership was doing an event where they were slashing prices and that clunker was one of the $99 ones. Of course, it needed about $1000 worth of work, but that's still a good deal.
Dang! That's awesome. I would not want something like that these days (way too much headache), but something I could put some elbow grease into like that would have been a gold mine! Great find.
My father gave me a 1972 Subaru. It was so rusted out, there were holes in the floor, which was covered with pieces of household carpeting. The front fenders were one good bump away from falling off. The engine had been re-built...mostly. It had a curious habit: it would die for 3 seconds, then come back to life. I'd be booming along at a top speed of 50mph and it would die, coast for 3 seconds, then roar back to life (ok...it coughed and sputtered, it never roared.) The entire electrical system was more corrosion than system, but somehow it kept running.
My friend Bill would push the emptied aluminum cans out the hole in the floor.
It ran and it got me around and it was a fun little car. I learned to drive stick in that POS.
That's great! I never had a car that had holes in the floor covered by carpets, but I'm pretty sure I rode in a few of these. Also: that Ford Escort had this type of carpet you could sort of peel back and see the thin metal floor, so I was very cognizant that there was not much separating my feet from the pavement below.
Also pretty sure I know exactly what you mean about a car stopping and then restarting on the highway like that. Wing and a prayer, baby!
Mine was a '73 Pontiac LeMans.
Whoa, that's a slick ride! What year was this?
1987. I was 28 and had been in school (college & grad school) for a decade, during which time I did not need a car, which was good thing since I couldn't afford one.
The car was a beater, but low mileage, 50K like your care. A pre-embargo model that was a mid-sized 2-door sports coupe that was longer than a (then-modern) caddie. It had the *smallest* engine of its model year (350 V* two barrel carb) and was a real gas hog--got 10 mpg. Gas cost me 10 cents a mile then. Today I drive a decade-old Prius C and gas is less than 10 cents a mile. Progress. :)
Huge progress! But still, I love thinking about those old days. I was super fortunate to be able to own a car when I was essentially still a kid, but I sure did make good use of that car before utterly destroying it. :)
My car was tiny, but some of those cars were so damn long!
Datsun 210b. I still miss that car. It was a piece of shit but just took a beating. And had a killer stereo system that I installed. Actually the stereo was crappy too but I remember it being amazing. IT HD A REMOVABLE FACE! I rarely actually removed it, but still...
Those cars were EVERYwhere during the mid 80s. Do you remember what color yours was?
Beige. but if I’m being honest, babysit brown.
‘65 Chevy Chevelle. No, you never get over it. 🥲
Now that car has some style!
Navy blue Chevy cavalier. Think it was an 85. Drove it though the last two years of high school, delivered pizzas with mine too. Kind of met a similar end-got into a minor accident and sustained some bad front end damage and I sold it for peanuts right after I graduated
Chevy Cavalier looked a lot like some of those 80s Camrys, another solid reliable car from that era. How long did you deliver pies?
Yeah I should write about the movie theatre experience one day too. There were some funny stories
Hit me up if you want to collab down the line. I'll do this one with Andrew, but there are like dozens of stories from those days.
Must be the mid Atlantic mid 90s water!
I think about a year. My other hs job was working in a movie theatre pushing popcorn
Dang! We have a lot of similarities. I'll write about my time in a movie theater soon too. Andrew Sniderman also worked at a movie theater and wrote a little something for me!
Funnily enough, I’ve just bought my first car, at the ripe old age of 40-something. I passed my driving test at 18 (the driving age in the UK is 17) but since then have basically always lived in cities where public transport has been good, and in China where I didn’t really want or need to drive. So I would just drive my mum’s car when I was home visiting, or hire a car when I needed one, or use a city car share scheme.
Now, though, I’ve moved back to rural Scotland where a car is kind of essential. A colleague of my sister’s was moving to New Zealand and selling her car, a Toyota Aygo, 10 years old but just 33,000 miles on the clock, great condition and a decent price. I felt ridiculously nervous going to pick it up, hoping I was doing all the legal stuff correctly, hoping it didn’t turn out to be a dud, but now I’m the proud owner of my first car and so far it’s going great. Now I just need to figure out the stereo 😂
Congrats! That's a great tale, too, and very unexpected.
I think I've done the opposite of what you did! I've been getting around a lot more by foot and driving way, way less these days. I'm not complaining.
My first car was an AMC Gremlin; I think 1971, maybe 1972 model? Anyway, my uncle had it in back because the timing gear had stripped and it didn't run; I was told I could drive it if I got it running. There's quite a tale to tell there and I'll publish it here on Substack one day...
Oh man. Gremlins, Pintos, and Yugos! I think the Escort I had was just one tiny step up from those cars. Ever see the fake ad for the "Adobe" car? Makes me think of my days driving this little death trap:
https://youtu.be/F02P2JO7yfc
Side note: I miss Phil Hartman.
Ha! I’d never seen that before!
And yes, Hartman was a treasure! So sad!
My first car was a 1988 Mazda pickup, but the second (a 1990 Ford Ranger) had more of a lasting impact. I drove the Ranger for seven years, and by the time I could afford another vehicle, it was really sketchy about shifting from first to second gear.
How old was the Ranger? Those things were really tough!
It was two years old when I bought it in 1992, and I traded it in 1999. It was a nice truck, but the last year of driving was sketchy because of the dying transmission.
Dang! I bought my first new car in 2000. It was a really practical car for the time - Toyota Corolla, standard, very reliable. That was a huge jump up from cars that were closer to ten years old. I would suspect that having a 2 year old car for you in 92 was just ideal.
Is this the best pic of you ever, hands down, ever in the universe? Yes, yes it is.
P.S. not that I’ve seen every photo ever, I just meant photos in posts obviously.
I can see a lot of dummiehood in that face.
1963 Toyota Corona. My dad drove me from Mountain Home to Moscow, Idaho to buy it from my oldest brother, who needed the $300 I paid for it for some reason. I learned how to drive a stick on the way home.
Amazing experience!
It was. I was 15 or 16, like you.
These were really different times. I think there was a big jump in between when you were able to learn to drive on the road home and my time driving (I was firmly planted in driver's ed prior to ever touching the wheel, although that's maybe not true because I seem to recall driving from my dad's lap as a very young kid), and then an even bigger jump in between when I learned to drive and today... at least, I kind of hope there's more scrutiny given to kids before they get behind giant murder machines. Maybe I'm turning into a curmudgeon in my old age, I dunno.
I did drive Dad's F-100 pickup in the sagebrushy acreage before that epic trip up to Moscow...
Fond memories of guiding my daughter not too many years ago as she practiced backing up. We drove backwards around a parking lot for quite a while until she was comfortable turning the wheel in non-intuitive directions to go backwards and back in to a parking spot.
Yeah, your Escort was manufactured 13 years after I was born lol.
So glad my daughter took Driver's Ed from a school that employed former state troopers!
I used to be good at math hehe. Your escort was made 23 years after I was born, not 13; what a brain fart...
I mean, my Escort was manufactured 9 years after I was born. I was NOT about to be able to get a new car at that point, but a car that was as relatively young as this one was something else.
My first was a 1979 Toyota Land Cruiser. Mustard "monkey puke" yellow. Fold down seats on the sides in back. Air conditioning consisted of flaps down by the feet and wing windows by the side mirrors. No power steering. No power windows. No power brakes. Top speed was 50 mph. All this meant that I was one hot, buff chick that everyone could see (because I lived in the high desert and it was so bright and slow). My dad said he picked it out of me so he could take it elk hunting. I think it was so I wouldn't get a speeding ticket.
I loved that car.
My parents still saw the guy who bought it from us driving it around recently--he'd put in a new engine. Presumably so he could get out of the slow lane in the the interstate...
That's rad! My current car (I bought it in 2011) had no power steering and no AC, and it is standard (stick shift). I asked for it, and I got it. I really like the simplicity: there's just way less that could go wrong.
Do you know about what year it was that you got the Land Cruiser?
It would’ve been 1987 or 1988. Remember the scene in Fried Green Tomatoes with Kathy Bates rammed the younger girl’s car “Face it, girls, I’m older and I have more insurance.” An older gal in a tiny sedan tried to pull into a parking spot I was clearly waiting for. I honked and leaned my head out the window and told her, “My bumper is bigger than yours. I wouldn’t take that spot.” 🤣 the thing was a beast!
Ha! That's a great little memory. This was your trusted steed for sure.
Does a motorcycle count? I mean it was barely a motorcycle - Yamaha 185cc. In retrospect I can’t believe my dad helped me buy it
Oh yes, I think so. How old were you? And, does it seem incongruous for a dad to want their kid to have a little death rocket?
Exactly! now that I have a kid that’s terrifying and I certainly wasn’t old enough to have a fully functioning brain. I think i was 20 when I got my first motorcycle and then I got a 2nd bigger one - Seca 400 after that. I know my dad made me take a motorcycle safety class but we’re talking LA here. My first car that I got to drive was a 80s puke green Ford Maverick with a lime green fender that my sister’s boyfriend got at pick-your-part after she crashed into something. The first care I owned (again thanks to my dad) was a white Mazda b2000 pickup that I loved and outfitted with a shell and a shag blue carpet kit. That one lasted me well into my 20s and didn’t cause me the same bodily damage the motorsickles did
I guess when you think about motorcycles vs cars, one good thing is that a kid isn't likely to ruin someone else's property with a motorcycle. That seems like pretty small consolation that really devalues human life, though!
I REALLY wanted that motorcycle so after intense negotiations he relented
1986 Ford Escort Station Wagon was my first car.
2 years newer than mine! I bet you had to beat back the ladies with a rolled up X-men comic back then.