Monday, May 15, 2017

When I was young

For this weeks Truth or Fiction challenge I'm going to tell you a story of my amazing car dealing abilities, really I'm going to give you three situations where I ended up acquiring a vehicle.

Two are completely True and one has completely False details that resulted in the deal being made.

Your job is to point out the False one, here goes;

My first car was a 1966 Pontiac LeMans, I bought it from my step sister for 200 dollars when she was getting ready to trade it in on a new Camaro.

The deal was that they were giving her 200 for a trade in amount and if I would give her this amount then the car was mine, we shook on the deal and I walked away wondering where I was going to get 200 dollars.

I didn't have that kind of money and neither did my mom, so I went downtown and walked into Miriam E Allgoods finance company and asked to borrow the money, Mrs Allgood had me fill out the forms, ran through my work history which was a short conversation, then asked if I had any collateral.

Collateral? what the heck is collateral? "Something of value that you own that I can hold until you pay back your loan" I walked away without a loan and on my way home an idea popped, I had a .22 rifle and I would use it to get the money.

I walked into Mrs. Allgoods with my rifle, she came around her desk and asked me what I was doing, I told her that I was there for my money.

She took my rifle and wrote down the serial number and gave me 200 dollars along with my repayment plan, "I'm going to trust you to keep that gun until you pay me back because I don't want to store it" I was now a car owner and even though I no longer have the car, I still have that gun.

My mom always loved the Chevrolet Monte Carlo, and she had a nice 1970 model, but the step dad totaled it out and had replaced it with a 1973 Ford Gran Torino Sport, this was a nice car but it wasn't a Monte Carlo.

I had about worn out my LeMans and was in the market for an upgrade, Mrs. Allgood had been paid off and I actually had a little money saved, after searching the area for the right car I made a deal with one of the local used car lots for a 1972 Chevy Monte Carlo.

My Mom really fell in love with this car, and I let her drive it once in a while, one day I was sitting next to her at a red light and yelled "Hey Mom, wanna race?" Mom always loved a fast car and you know that Gran Torino had to be fast, she agreed and asked "how do you want to do this" I said "when the light turns green put it to the floor".

The light turned green and the back tires on her Torino began screaming as the tires were spinning, I just slowly drove my Monte Carlo away and waited for her at home, she was furious for being tricked, I laughed as she got out of her car and said "since that old Ford is so slow, how about we just trade cars" she broke into a smile.

That is how I acquired my Gran Torino and Mom got back into the Monte Carlo that she loved.

I drove that Gran Torino to New Mexico when I left South Carolina, and began getting stopped by the police every time I drove through the town I had relocated to, I had replaced the tires and wheels on this car and raised the rear up to accommodate the large tires on the back, this was a fast looking car, it looked like it was speeding when it was sitting still.

It didn't take long to get tired of being pulled over, so I began trying to find another car, none of the car dealers wanted my hot rod, or didn't want to give me what I thought it was worth, and I wasn't going to give it away, a lot of the guys my age wanted it but didn't have the money, and their parents wouldn't invest in a "hot rod"

I was working at Farmers Co-op which is a grain elevator where they take in, store, buy and sell crops like corn, wheat, and milo we also sold animal feed, Dean one of the men I worked with had a truck for sale and I decided that I'd look good in a truck.

I tried to trade my Gran Torino to Dean for his truck, he refused because he said that he had seen me on the side of the road with a police car behind me more than anything else, "I'm too old to be seen driving a hot rod" he told me.

After work I drove down to Big O Tires and made a deal that cost me half my paycheck, my Cragar S/S mags and wide tires to have a regular set of tires and wheels installed and the back of the car lowered to a normal height, the very next day I was driving a 1972 GMC pickup after trading my car to Dean.

I have driven a pickup truck ever since then, but have often wished I still had that Gran Torino.
Ok folks there we have a portion of my teenage years, as always two of these scenarios on how I made car deals are completely true and one although partially true has a completely made up situation included.

Pick the one that is false and have your blog added to the True Winners section

Which is false:

1 - used a gun to buy my first car.
2 - raced my Mom to trick her back into her dream car.
3 - paid to have my car look normal so I could trade it.

What was your first car?

35 comments:

  1. You sound to me like the kind of nice guy who would do that for his mom so I choose option 2. My first car? A four door Toyota Crown....biggest basket of lemons you can imagine.

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    1. Thank you Delores, Toyota seems to make a good car, but I know they all give you a basket of lemons now and then.

      Just to clarify, are you picking #2 as the false one?

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    2. No numbers one and two I think are true.

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    3. Thank you for clearing that up for me, just wanted to make sure I had it right.

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  2. #1 is too ridiculous to be true. Walking into the loan office with a gun saying you were there for money. That is why I think it must be true!
    #3 Just sounds like something you could not make up.
    I will say #2 is false, but that is pretty much a stab in the dark...good ones all.

    I'm still not sure which number Slightly Confused chose...I am, well, slightly confused.

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    1. Now you know how I feel all the time lol.

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    2. Hey Joe, you chose 2 and she chose 3 after clarification, I think that's what she said to begin with, I was slightly confused at the time.

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    3. Delores I feel that way more than you know ha ha

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  3. All choices sound possible. I will take a stab at #1, for the only reason that I have a lovely .22 Remington that I couldn't get that kind of money on now, let alone years ago.
    My first car was when I was 36 - a '73 Chevy Nova. Man, I loved that car!

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    1. I bet that Nova was nice, I always wanted one of those but never got one....as of yet.

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  4. This is a hard me, but I will guess #1 as false, only because I can't imagine anyone giving a loan to a young man without a co-signer. And the gun part is crazy!

    The first car I drove was my dad's 72 Chevy Nova. The first car I bought with my own money (and a bank loan,) was an 85 Mazda GLC (great little car). It was a hatchback.

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    1. Hi Bijoux,I always liked the looks of the Novas, wasn't the Mazda GLC kind of a boxy little hatchback?, that's what comes to mind anyway, it is sure exciting when you finally can buy your first car.

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  5. This is hard but I'm going with number #1 being the false story. Tricking your mom sounds like something my brother did and so does the third story. But in the 1960s I can't imagine a loan officer in a bank being a woman. A gun for collateral, yes.

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    1. Hi Jean, I thought it was easier this week, but that's only because I know the answer.

      I like the way everyone goes through the facts before picking an answer, all of your reasonings makes sense to me.

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  6. These were tough once more but I'm picking #1. Can't imagine getting $200 with a 22 as collateral. I was tempted with joeh's logic but I am sticking with #1 as false.
    My first car was a 61 Metropolitan. Great mileage, convertible and a piece of cake to park.

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    1. Hi Patti, the 61 Metropolitan sounds like a nice one, the mileage, convertible, and easy to park would make it desirable today.

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  7. I'm picking #1, because I don't think you could get that much money for a gun. With a gun, maybe, but not FOR a gun!!

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    1. Hey Fran, with a gun for sure but the interest rate would have been so much higher.

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  8. I'm not even going to try. I know nothing about cars and how one might acquire one. All I know is if your husband doesn't make his payments, they will come and take that car away so you have to go back to riding the buses.

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    1. Hi River, a lot of people rely on public transportation, and a lot for the very same reason I imagine.

      Good to see you Lady.

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  9. I cannot imagine a youngster using a gun for such a purpose, but I could be wrong. OK I'll stick with it.... No.1.

    My first car was an Austin - don't ask which model, it was too long ago.

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    1. Hi Valerie, I don't see an Austin that often here, I believe they stopped making them several years ago making them desirable to collectors now.

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  10. Tough choice again, Jimmy. I'll go with #2 as the false one as I think your mom could've given you a better race with that Gran Torino ;)

    My first "car" was a '69 Chevy pickup. All personality.

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    1. Hey Abby, that's only if you don't leave her spinning the tires ha ha

      69 Chevy truck now that was a sweet ride.

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  11. Well, that was a good read Jimmy. I am hopeless at these things, all sound feasible so I am going to guess. The false one was no. 2 as I can't picture me - empathizing with your mom - drag racing.

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    1. Hi Denise, remember I did say Momma liked a fast car ha ha.

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  12. 1978 Mustang and I'm saying rhe first car which you use a 22 purchase a car with is false.
    Coffee is on

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    1. Hi Dora, the Mustang has been a popular car since they first came out, a nice car.

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  13. Possibly number one but I don't really have a clue!

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    1. Good morning Joey, Good to see you my friend.

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  14. Again, I did not read your post giving us the true story yet. My guess is the "getting a car with a gun" story as the false story.

    My first car was a Toyota Tercel. Wouldn't die, no matter what I did to it. Towards the end of my ownership I always joked that I doubled the value of the car every time I put gas in it.

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    1. I trust you it may be a little late but the rules are the same.

      "I always joked that I doubled the value of the car every time I put gas in it." Now that is funny and close to being true with the price of gas.

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