... how it all began in 1952:
On Sundays after church, father started teaching my (older) sister to drive by letting her take the wheel of the 1949 Ford on low traffic roads in the vicinity of the Detroit City Airport. I sat in the back seat. Eventually I got a chance to try my hand at the wheel once my sister became sufficiently proficient to negotiate the Sunday traffic on Harper Avenue. By my fourteenth birthday I had accumulated sufficient practice and mileage that signing up for a learner's permit appeared almost anticlimactic. At the end of winter 1953, and after several weeks of (evening) driver education classes, I qualified for a restricted (adult accompanied) drivers license.
The following four part list identifies the (primary) cars I've driven during various parts of my life:
-
current cars [1998 - present]:
- 2000 Zenith Blue Porsche Boxster 2.7L, 'ZeeBee'
- 1986 white Porsche 911 Carrera 3.2L
- 1964 Signal Red Porsche 356-C Cabriolet 1.6L
- 1955 white Porsche 356 Continental 1.5L
-
Ford lease cars [1985 - 1997]:
- 1997 laser red Mustang 4.6L GT convertible, graphite interior [10]
- 1996 opal silver Mustang 4.6L GT convertible, graphite interior [ 9]
- 1995 red Mustang 4.6L GT convertible, black interior [ 8]
- 1994 silver blue Lincoln Mark VIII 4.6L, blue leather interior
- 1993 white Mustang LX 5.0L convertible, deep red interior [ 7]
- 1992 light titanium Mustang 5.0L LX convertible, gray side stripe [ 6]
- 1991 light titanium Mustang 5.0L LX convertible, black side stripe [ 5]
- 1990 medium titanium Mustang 5.0L LX convertible, red interior [ 4]
- 1989 blue Mustang 5.0L LX convertible, gray interior [ 3]
- 1988 maroon red Mustang 5.0L GT convertible, gray interior [ 2]
- 1987 gray Mustang 5.0L GT convertible, red interior [ 1]
- 1986 dark metallic gray Topaz, gray interior
- 1985 silver Turbo Thunderbird 2.3L, red interior
- 1984 blue Volkswagen Vanagon 'Blunderbus II' 1.9L
-
my cars [1961 - 1984]:
- 1980 silver Mustang Ghia 2.3L, red interior
- 1979 yellow Ford Fiesta 1.8L
- 1978 silver Mercury Zephyr 2.3L station wagon
- 1967 red Austin Healy Sprite 1.5L, black interior
- 1972 red Ford Pinto station wagon, black interior
- 1966 blue green Volkswagen split-window micro bus 'Blunderbus I' 1.5L
- 1967 white Volkswagen Squareback 1.6L
- 1965 white Volkswagen Beetle convertible 1.5L
- 1961 white Volkswagen Beetle sedan 1.4L
- Father's cars [1953 - 1960]:
- 1960 yellow-green Volkswagen beetle (in Germany)
- 1960 white Ford Falcon
- 1957 black Volkswagen beetle
- 1950 dark green Ford four door sedan
- 1949 sea mist green Ford four door sedan; learned to drive on this car
Porsche 356 Registry cars and 356 racers are found elsewhere, as are Porsche museum racers brought to the 1998 Meadow Brook Hall Concours d'Elegance and Waterford Raceway for the Porsche 50'th Anniversary.
