Coffee Break?

Nov 1st, 2008 by maat45

Nope...not the radio serial or the comic book. But, due to my then husband's love of both this was what we named our very first, brand new specially ordered car...an AMC Hornet Sportabout. Naturally enough it was green...bright emerald with a small metallic flake. We were living on Guam at the time, within a few months of transferring to Italy. Guam was hell on metal because of the humidity so, since it wasn't advised to ship a good vehicle there, we had been making do with 'old heaps', the most recent being a 60's model Plymouth Fury. Or as our young daughter called it Plymouth Furry...not far off the mark either, this car having been on Guam long enough to be moldy, rusted and, ultimately held together by Black Magic and chicken wire. Transferring to Italy as we were...and knowing we would be there at least thirty months...we had to have a decent car and had to get it ordered for pick-up in the US while we were on leave. Then we'd drive it to Philly for shipping to Europe. Italy being a hop/skip/jump from Scotland we also were anticipating making trips 'home' as often as possible and since I didn't fly when we could drive, the new car had to be roomy enough and...brand new. So we went car shopping in Agana. That was the era of the Gremlin, Pacer, Maverick and we did look at all three. Our 4yr. old...and I...loved the Gremlin. Hahahaha! We did! It was "different"...a unique body style which had a certain appeal. (Go on, laugh...you know you want to!) That was nixed as was the Pacer and Maverick. Then we looked at the AMC. Now he didn't like wagons...didn't like how they could handle at times but, all in all, it WAS practical for us when travelling long distances with plenty of comfort for our daughter. Room to play and sleep, stash our luggage etc. The decision was partly made and would be sealed if hubby could get one with a floor shift (they came with a column standard shift or automatic and he had no love of either). We asked, they checked...yes! This we could get. There were a few other things we added on...this was the first car he had ever ordered as he wanted it so we were making it our own as much as possible. Geez! That shot the final price up to better than $3000!!! Could we afford it? Hmmm...we had to. We needed something reliable, sturdy, spacious given the life we lived.

We were going to Oklahoma for a month's leave when we left Guam, visiting the paternal grandparents and so were picking the new car up there. When we went to get it, the dealer told us it had been in the showroom for a few weeks awaiting us and he could have sold that particular car several times over because of the floor shift. She handled well, looked great and she had 'back door seats'...the one request our little girl had had. I think she was just fed-up of our previous two-door cars and having to climb in and out. Took us a while to figure out what 'back door seats' were but once we had...well, I still call a four-door a car with back-door seats. We had more than three weeks to drive the car and make sure there were no problems before shipping, didn't find a thing wrong and soon we were off across country to Philly and shipping her to Naples. We drove her for just over a year there, making one road trip to Scotland during that time, and had only problem..minor as it was. Coming back from Scotland that trip, we missed the day's last auto-train from Switzerland to Italy. That was a bummer but we stopped for dinner to mull over what we should do next...travelling on a very strict budget as we were. Hotels were not in our reality or wallet but not sure where we could pull off the road and sleep a few hours until the first train of the next day. However, when we came out of the restaurant we noticed we had sprung a leak in the gas tank. It was 8pm and we did know that Switzerland, regardless of budget, was not going to be the best place to get a repair done due to cost. Found a gas station open and managed to converse with the owner just enough that he understood our dilemma...in addition, with my husband helping, convinced the guy to do a temporary patch of the small hole. Now, MY brilliant idea was...we had a full tank of gas and rather than let it drip out overnight while we slept, use it. How could we drive over the border rather than wait for the train to take us through the Alps? The guy said we could drive up and over the Simplon Pass...same mountain the tunnel went through...and he THOUGHT it had been cleared again, a short time ago with no further snowfalls. Did I mention this was January...and we were in a winter wonderland? We decided to try it, got directions and we were off. I have never in my life...before or since...had such a ride. When we got above the tree line I began wondering just how high up we were...did I also mention I have a horrid fear of heights? And there we were, driving on hard packed snow and ice, not even a barrier to prevent dropping off the edge of the world as we knew it to the valley below. To begin with I didn't even realise it was a valley. Pitch dark and all I could see were tiny little fireflies...wondering how on earth they had survived in this cold. That was until it dawned on me those were not miniature fireflies but the scattered lights of a village...far, far, far below us. Fortunately for my heart, we did not encounter any other vehicle on the road up or down. The ride did have a few joys, though. A star-studded sky had never, ever appeared to be so close...or so studded...as it was at the top of that mountain. Even then I figured that this was the closest I'd ever get to heaven so took advantage of it. We'd spotted a silver fox running across the roadway at one point and then, when we had reached the summit, stopped the car so we could all get out to have a snowball fight. Our daughter, by then 5yrs. old, had no memory of ever being in snow, touching it, making a snowball. (Nope...the little town where we had stopped for dinner...the roads and sidewalks had all been cleared). We had a blast...but then back in the car and the scary drive down the other side of the mountain. When we did arrive home I learned that the pass is around 6,600ft. And vowed we would never make that particular trip again. But the car and it's leaking tank continued to take us the length of Italy and home. Parts for US cars were not only hard to come by but very expensive if you did so with a well-fitting nail my husband filled the leak, hoping it would hold for the remaining two years of our tour. It probably would have...had the car not been totalled a few months later. (Dark night, new road, as yet unposted sharp bend). Sorry...looks like I meandered up a different path from which I intended. At any rate, I had found the bill of sale, cost and title for this short-lived venture into new car buying. Of course, here I am sitting marvelling at the 'good old days'...until I found our tax return for the year following this purchase. HAH! To be honest, were anyone to have asked what we earned back in the day I couldn't have told them...knew it was nothing great but...I found out. Return for this First Class Petty Officer in 1972 was a grand total of $7,589. And that was including wages from a small part-time job my husband had at the time. I, being a stay-at-home Mom, did not have an 'outside' job. That car was half a year's salary...not a luxury car and not a lot of salary, either. Funny thing is, we got almost $400 back from our taxes which is about as much as I get now, from more than three times the income! The good old days, eh? It's all relative!

Tags: 1971 Hornet, AMC Hornet, Good Ol' Days, Simplon Pass, Sportabout, Switzerland

Posted in Life, Uncategorized

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on 03 Nov 2008 at 1:10 am1AngelBaby

Wow! Did you have an adventure! I don’t think I would have tried it with a leak in my gas tank. I am glad you made it safely. I remember those cars, it was a long time ago. Thanks for sharing this wonderful story.

Love and Blessings,
AngelBaby
on 03 Nov 2008 at 6:39 am2maat45

My skewed logic, Angelbaby! Tight budget, tight time-frame for hubby to get back to base and report for duty and we had, only an hour before, filled out gas tank and couldn’t afford to lose the tankful so “logic” suggested to me we’d be better off using and burning it rather just losing it. Emboldened by youth! At that age we believe ourselves to be invincible (except some of us where great heights are involved…LOL).
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