Well, as a 34 year old man, a serious lurker of these forums, and a die hard chevy/camaro guy I couldn't pass up this thread.
My very first car was the first car I ever sat in the driver's seat of. In 1978 as a soon to be three year old, my parents custom ordered a 1978 Chevrolet Malibu V6 with leather interior, upgraded stereo (aka AM/FM Cassette) and a three speed on the floor. When that car was delivered I remember being at the dealership as a two year old boy standing in the driver's seat and accidentally hitting the horn. I actually remember it scaring the living daylights out of me. I can remember my dad laughing soflty at it, but still checking on me. It is the earliest memory I have.
As you can guess, the first car I ever drove was that '78 Malibu. It is how I learned how to drive, and since it was a stick shift, I didn't know that there was any other type of transmission. In the summer of 1991 with a learner's permit in my wallet, and my dad in the passenger seat, two VERY nervous guys went on the trip of a lifetime. The road trip started in Baltimore, MD, and our first stop was in Cooperstown, NY (the baseball Hall of Fame). From there we visited Niagra Falls, NY, and stayed the night in Buffalo, NY. This was my first time ever driving a car, and it was a stick shift (with a very stiff clutch as I remember). Our next stop was Canton, OH to visit the football Hall of Fame. We checked it out, and somewhere in West Virginia I relinquished the steering wheel to him (minus a few times he was driving in the state of NY where Dad got a speeding ticket, lol).
Fast forward to 1992. I am a 17 year old boy, a senior in high school, with divorced parents, but a very close connection with my dad (I did not live with him). As a typical teenager I think I NEED a car. So my dad buys a new car and gives me, you guessed it, the 1978 Chevy Malibu (now with 185,000 original miles on it). That car made me a Chevy boy/man. A sad day would come on 12-25-92 (that same year). My dad was killed in a single car accident in his new car (Mazda MX6). That car (the Malibu) that lasted for so long, and so many miles was STILL around. I made sure it was driven in the procession, and as a 17 year old I somehow was not denied driving it in that procession. That car NEVER let me down, and though it had its issues, was a very reliable car, and a part of some GREAT memories. I traded it in that year (mainly from family pressure) for a more reliable car to go to college.
What I neglected to mention was that for a short period of time, my Uncle (Dad's brother) had a 1980/1 (not sure I was 5, lol) Chevy Camaro Berlinetta while he was in the Navy. The car was left in my Nana's care while he was deployed in Okinowa, Japan (the years are vague, but I think it is '82/'83). I remember as a little boy talking her into driving it to get the mail (Uncle Michael said it need to be started and run every so-often). My favorite part was asking her to rev the engine, and to my delight she would!
Later on my dad would buy the car from Uncle Mike and eventually wreck it. In fact I remember joking with my Dad about how it would be my first car. I remember now that it had to be a V8 just by the sound I remember it having.
My Nana (88) is still around and we still have fond memories of those days. That Malibu, and that Berlinetta are a part of me. That Malibu ended up going over 225,000 miles before getting traded in, and it was driven to the dealer for trade in late 1993 like it always had... not towed.
The whole Chevrolet experience has influenced me so much that I bought a '95 Camaro V-6, 5-speed brand new. I have since had a '97 Monte Carlo, an '01 Tahoe, and most importantly an '02 Camaro SS which I drive today (bought brand new). I was proud to drive one of the last Camaros ever to have been produced, but now I am eager to drive one of the new 5th generation Camaro's which has yet to be built.
Thank you GM, and Chevrolet for memories that will be a part of mine, and my childrens' lives forever.
