Comments on guardedly optimistic: memories of family cars

fyi: it's datsun, not dotson.

2009-05-18T12:04:00.000-04:00

fyi: it's datsun, not dotson.

Dan Goor here...I remember the vomit mobile. I rea...

2007-11-21T16:30:00.000-05:00

Dan Goor here...
I remember the vomit mobile. I really remember the crayons melted onto the seat. I feel like there were lots of Cheerios in the seams of the seats and that maybe some of the melted crayons were really smashed fruit roll-ups.

The other car from that period that I remember was Coach Pat Murphy's van, which I believe had independently rotating seats. I'm not sure how he drove it with his fake leg, but I'm also not sure how he taught us to play soccer with only one leg.

Did anyone we know have a nice car? Why do I feel like Rob "Ribsy" Stokes' parents had a nice (or at least clean) car?

Have you written about MoJo yet? America needs to hear the tales of a tailless cat. Hmmm. Not a bad name for a blog devoted to Mojo.

This is very funny stuff. The car stories idea is...

2006-06-03T20:47:00.000-04:00

This is very funny stuff. The car stories idea is brilliant. My contributions will all be about the Dodge Intrepid.

"Someone ought to start a "car stories" website - ...

2006-06-02T17:37:00.000-04:00

"Someone ought to start a "car stories" website - definite potential there."

The real authentic American art-form.

Someone ought to start a "car stories" website - d...

2006-06-01T21:32:00.000-04:00

Someone ought to start a "car stories" website - definite potential there. Glad you're reading, Jake.

make/model: Dodge Caravancolor: bluelifespan: 1989...

2006-06-01T16:48:00.000-04:00

make/model: Dodge Caravan
color: blue
lifespan: 1989-1991
nickname: Blue Thunder
memorable feature: non-functional right-turn signal

Hey Justin,
Jacob Kramer-Duffield here. If memory serves, the above was indeed primary transport for my family immediately prior to yours. It followed our own vomit-mobile (a GM station wagon of some sort; the vomit had been mine at age ~3, and returned whenever exposed to sunlight), and there was one other Caravan, after, before the true hero. Namely, the British Racing Green (with gold stripe) Grand Caravan that made it from 1993, through both my and Mike's high school and college careers, seemingly endless frisbee trips across the Midwest and South, and exposure to more stank than one car should ever have to endure. That valiant machine died in Lorain, OH with 173k on it, one month prior to my brother's graduation where - title never transferred to the towing company - it may still sit in a parking lot.

Still, my own fondest memories may be reserved for the 1985 Cadillac Fleetwood (two bench seats; sat six comfortably; eight if you count the trunk) that was mine 1996-1998. The speedometer only went up to 85, and only functioned up to 75 but - well, it had eight cylinders. Somehow the 'rents thought it was a good idea for me to have that.

It died a ignominious death when, home on spring break, I took one (!) wheel up onto a curb getting onto Rockville Pike. Coming back down, apparently, a cylinder got cracked. Damned American engineering.