My First Car - Gert

6/14/2012

 My First Car - Gert

Her name was Gert.  Why you ask?  I have no earthly idea, just sounded like a good name at the time.  I have always believed that inanimate objects (not all mind you) like to have a name.  And no I’m not completely crazy, I don’t call my cheese anything but cheese unless it’s moldy and then I call it yucky cheese.  But I’ve got a thing about naming my cars and Gert was my first one, so she is/was super special.

After my husband left me (no not Jeff), I had no drivers license because as a teenager Dad thought I was just too scary behind the wheel.  I think his fears increased when I hit a stop sign.  Now remember that in 1967 all cars were the size of boats and with few, if any, of the sophist acted features cars have today.  For goodness sakes we had to open and close our windows – manually.  So after the stop sign incident Dad and I mutually agreed that I wouldn’t drive – at least not under his tutelage.

Oh so back to where my husband left me.  No drivers license, no car (not that that really mattered since I didn't drive) and pretty much no money.  At the time that my husband sprung the good news about the other woman on me we were just moving into a new house closer to my parents.  The timing was perfect – for him – as for me, not so much.

I moved out of the house within a week and put it up for rent.  My Dad wasn’t handy with tools and frankly only owned a few.  The house was old and in the few months of my solo ownership, there seemed to be a malfunction at the house weekly.  On my tiny salary of $100 a week, I could hardly afford to buy water heaters, fix wacky electrical problems and drippy faucets every time I turned around.

So I sold the house using a Quitclaim Deed for $1,000.00.   And, people this is the truth.    With the $1,000.00 in hand, Dad and I went in search of reliable and cheap transportation.  Gert was a two-toned green Rambler vintage 1967, so about 6 years old.  We bought the car and she sat in Dad’s driveway.  And then he gave me an ultimatum, either learn to drive or watch my $1,000 rot away outside.

I wisely chose to learn to drive and Dad once again took me out – but only on back roads and I managed at 24 to not knock down any signs or people. I did pass my driving test I believe on the first try - not bad.   I had Gert for several years and she was a good learning vehicle for I did have a few solo incidents – like parking too close to a carport pole and taking the door handle off – little stuff like that. Luckily, at the time I worked for an insurance company and my boss would make some kind of "deal" with body shops to keep fixing up Gert for free.  It was a wonderful perk for a beginning driver.

Gert had one little flaw – she leaked when it rained.  Now it’s lucky that I lived in Southern California and not Seattle.  California doesn’t get a lot of rain as a rule but when it did both Gert and I got wet.  I kept her a number of years until it was decided that I needed a safer, newer car to drive my children around in.  No complaints about that from me.

You want to know the absolute coolest thing about Gert.  The woman, who bought her, loved her at first sight (even after knowing that she leaked).  But the best part – the really best part – is she asked if the car had a name.  My heart swelled with joy when I was able to say, “Yes, her name’s Gert" and she understood completely!