First Cars
Think about your first car. What comes to mind? Freedom? Identity? Pride? However nice or reliable it was, a first car leaves an impression that lasts a lifetime. Unfortunately, the car itself usually doesn’t last nearly as long.
Ask people about their first car and you’ll get far more than the year, make and model. Then ask if they wish they still had it, and more often than not the answer is, “I’d love to still have that car.”
So here we are, 40 years later, and I’ve still got my first car. How did that happen? Easy. I had really cool parents who let me store it at their house after high school, until I got settled into adulting. After that, I had a really cool wife who embraced her role as Scout co-pilot.
Have you seen his car?
I finally mustered up the courage to ask a girl out in high school, and she went home and told her sister. “Have you seen his car?” was the sister’s response. I’ll let you guess the intonation. As a parent, I’ve used this story to reinforce the lesson that “tone makes the music.”
That said, I do think some girls in high school appreciated the Scout. A couple of them decorated the inside with toilet paper one night. Given the care that went into such a covert feat, I didn’t take it as a prank. I took it as admiration for the vehicle.
Homecoming Parade Float
In the 1986 CVHS Homecoming parade, the Scout carries Morale Squad royalty on their float “King Falcon Kong”.
1988 CVHS Yearbook Centerfold
When yearbooks are first handed out, you flip through looking for cool pictures of you and your friends. You can imagine how my blood ran cold when I discovered that “my angel was the centerfold.”
I never truly understood the 1988 yearbook theme of “Safari,” but I’m guessing the yearbook staff was brainstorming themes that would end up with the Scout as a centerfold.
