MY VERY FIRST VEHICLE

Letter "V"

For educational purposes, my father had decided that I have to buy my first car myself with my self earned money. Of course he would take care of all the rest what this vehicle would cost. Anyway with or without permission I had decided that I must have a car. I was 21 and wanted to be free and drive around depending on nobody, which was quite unusual in the 60th. My girlfriends were rather looking for the love of their life and marriage.

Learning driving was an easy thing in the 60th in Belgium, no driver licence was requested.  In order not to damage his precious car, my father hired a guy who taught me driving in his car which had two steering wheels and breaks. I learned very quick, as it was something which I wanted absolutely and as soon as possible.

When I was ready, I looked in the papers for used cars. And I found one ! A Fiat 600, in white ! I bought it right away. Now I was the proud owner of my very first own vehicle !



It was a special car ! When it rained I had water on the floor until my ankle. So I always had boots in my car, until a friend had the very good idea to bore a hole in the floor and then closed it with a cork. This was a perfect solution. When water started to get into the car, I just took off the cork, let the water run out and then closed it again. We called my car "Model Bathtub".

I had no other problems with my little car, until the day when I drove behind a truck which spat drops all over my vehicle. Of course I thought it was water, but unfortunately it wasn't. It was acid ! When I came home I saw little holes all over the car body. On the roof, in the front and in the back. What to do now ? I found an easy solution. I bought a can of white color and a brush and painted my car myself all over. It didn't look very nice, I had bought an opaque color, and the car didn't shine anymore, but at least the holes were gone.

My father was very upset about the look of the car and what people would think of him to let his daughter driving around in such an old and awful looking vehicle. He took the opportunity to propose me a deal. I should split with my boyfriend, whom he didn't like and whom he thought was not good enough for me and as consolation he would buy me a new Volkswagen. That was a deal !

What did I do hating blackmailing ? I accepted, got my new Volkswagen, kept my boyfriend of course, but a little more discretely. Everybody knew that, except dear father. I felt very good ! A few month later I anyway split with my boyfriend, but at least I had my car !

The new Volkswagen was very beautiful, but it was not the same, it looked too normal, not at all like  my little old self painted vehicle. 

more participants at Jenny Matlock's Alphabet Thursday