Question of the Week: What was the first car you ever owned?

By Tom Peterson 

Welcome to Question of the Week, a weekly news column that poses timely questions about life, politics, culture, economics, health, and more to people out and about in our communities. Our hope at CCC News is that having this space dedicated to being curious about other people’s experiences can help us to deepen our understanding of people from all walks of life.

This week's question: What was the first car you ever owned?

Dani Velar and DeeAnn Bohn had some great first-car stories. They are the backbone of Play & Learn, a five-county early learning program supported by the Oregon Early Childhood Equity Fund, and Oregon Child Development Coalition.

Dani Velar, 36, The Dalles  

Could this have been the car? ‘80s Chevy Sprint with 3-cylinder engine. No tow truck required. Just lift with hands.

“My first car was a Buick Regal,” said Dani. “But I really loved the car after that. We called it the Res Runner. I got it for $100. It was red, and I could drive to Yakima, Tri-Cities, and back to Sunnyside, and I only had to fill it up every three weeks. It was great. It was a five-speed with no reverse. I would stick my foot out and push it back to go in reverse. The car was made in ‘86. I can’t remember the name of it. My dad was a mechanic and bought me a turbo something, but when he found out how powerful it was, he said ‘never mind’.”

DeeAnn Bohn, age - none of my business ;) Hood River

Look at that knob on the steering wheel. No fooling around on a three-point turn. This beast was also low geared when it came to turning.

1970 F350

“I had a 1970 three-quarter ton Ford. It was school-bus yellow and white with a four-speed, said DeeAnn. “It was geared as low as low could go. I got it to haul a horse trailer. I was in an appaloosa horse club based in Moscow, Idaho. It was no fun parallel parking.  In those days you could get your license at 14. The drinking age was 18.” 

“I remember that,” I told DeeAnn. “I was born and raised in Lewiston, Idaho.”

We also remember that in those days it was not illegal to drive and drink a beer for those 18 and older. There was no open container law inside vehicles.  Rather, it was illegal to be intoxicated and drive.

Bohn said she also learned in a civics class that it was illegal to drink Pepsi and drive in Idaho in those years, the result of some weird politics in Idaho back then. 

Jeremy Strickland, TD, 40

Classic ‘90s Civic

“I had a Honda Civic,” he said. “It was from the ‘90s. It was alright. I was doing construction back then on the windmills in Sherman County. I was working for Blattner. Gary Shull was my supervisor. I bought that car for $200. I got 50,000 miles out of it. I drove it until it blew up.”

Dan, no age or photo wanted, The Dalles

‘69 Mustang

“I bought a ‘69 Ford Mustang stock with chrome wheels,” he said. “It was 1975, and I was in high school in Hood River. I bought it before I was old enough to drive. I got my license the day I turned 16.”

“Why,” I asked.

“Freedom,” he said. 

“I used to put $10 bucks in the tank and drive until I was at half empty and then turn around and go back. It did not matter where I went.”

‘69 Camaro

“I traded it for a ‘69 Z28 Camaro with a DZ302 in ‘77. It cost me $1,750 but it's probably worth $100,000 now.”

Dan’s right. We checked. Prices ranged from high $60k to over $150,000 depending on options.

“We used to cruise and hit Rosauers in Hood River,” Dan said. “We’d drive from there to the Port and back. That was the gut. On Saturdays, we’d go over by the airport in Dallesport and we had a quarter mile marked off over there. We used to drag race there. I used to make some money.”

“Ever race for pink slips,” I asked. 

“I never did that,” he said. “But that DZ302 stock was made for drag racing. It would get up to 130 in a hurry.”  

Brian Casson, 48, The Dalles

Datsun 310 VS the Oldsmobile below.

“I had a Datsun 310 GX. I bought it for $500,” he said. “I was 16, and I had just got my license.”

But the 310 did not last too long. 

Oldsmobile

“My grandmother was following me,” Casson said. “I stopped at an intersection, and she rear-ended me with her Oldsmobile. It was a tank. It pushed me out into the intersection. It totaled it (the310). It hardly did anything to the Oldsmobile. I got a Mazda 626 after that. It drove nice.”

Micah Piipo, 36, Beaverton with son Jack, 5

‘85 Camaro

I met Micah at Thompson Park as he and his wife and kids took lunch in the shade of a tree next to the pool. They were driving to his hometown in Richland, Washington for a family reunion with his two older brothers.

Micah said he used to work for Google in The Dalles and now works in construction at the Intel computer chip-making complex in Hillsboro.  

“I bought a 85 Z28 Camaro when I was 16. It cost $2,000. I remember that because I could not talk the guy down. It was an automatic with AC, which was kind of rare. I was going to Richland High School and I was excited to drive. Lots of homecomings, proms and rallying on backroads.”

Micah said the construction at Intel has yet to slow and recent $280 Billion in legislation passed by the US Senate to bring more chip-making plants back to the United States could keep him hopping. Much of the semi-conductor chips have been made in China, causing supply chain issues in, what else, the production of US vehicles which require the chips for multiple functions.

Jonathan Alvarez, 29, The Dalles 

‘91 Mazda 626. But they don’t all look like this.

“I got a 1991 Mazda 626. We paid $1,200. My dad helped me buy that car, and then I sold it behind his back to get a nicer looking car. My girlfriend hated that car,” he said laughing. I made a deal with a guy on Craigslist. I think he was from Gladstone and he drove out and I sold it for more than we paid. I bought a Honda Civic. It was a great commuter car. It was light blue. I would still have it if it didn't get totaled in a crash.”

Alvarez noted that the relationship with the girlfriend far outlasted the car.

She is now his wife, Yolanda Alvarez-Garcia.

And Jonathan is driving something a little more than a Civic these days. 

It’s a Dodge Challenger Hellcat with a 6.2 liter, V-8 supercharged Hemi engine. Horsepower? More than 700. He had the whole car put in a custom black carbon wrap. People shouted out to him about the unique hot rod as we talked. 

He gets that all the time.