Baby You Can Drive My Car

The other day I read an article about Baby Boomers and their cars. Apparently my generation has run the gamut from VW Bugs and Vans to Corvettes to soccer-mom vans to mini SUV's. We come by our affair with cars naturally. Everyone one of us Baby Boomers has at least one picture of us as a baby or young child propped on a big black car that was probably the first in our family! It was a rite of passage. Our grandparents, and sometimes our parents, bought their first car and immediately plopped the kid on top to take a picture (we only had "pictures" back then, not "photos"). All the cars looked the same so either they were just boring, or there was really only ONE car and everyone took pictures on it! Not sure.

My grandparents took this picture without any kids in 1937ish. I love Papa Jim's hairdo in this one. He also took a studly solo shot later in the 50's - most of the great hair was gone, but he was cool (?) with that cigarette hanging out of his mouth.

Then came the token baby shots. One of me with my dad and one of Ed with his grandmother. Yes, yes - I know we were adorable.

My dad was a car kinda guy so he had to go for the studly shot, too. This car is similar to the one I learned how to drive in. It was turquoise (we also didn't have "teal" back then) with a black convertible top. Looked great, but it was a stick shift. My dad decided we didn't need no stinkin' driving school - he was perfectly capable of teaching me. Didn't do too bad at first. We found a nice, quiet road on the East side of Tucson that was rarely travelled. I finally got the hang of it. Then I saw a truck coming towards me way down the road. Panicked. Threw my hands up in the air and said "What do I do now?!?!". My dad grabbed the wheel and got us through the crisis. As soon as we got home, he call the aforementioned stinkin' driving school and signed me up.

Another shot I always liked is this one of my dad during the days when he did tv commercials for a car dealership.

My daughter and I name our cars. It just seems like the right thing to do. I don't remember what her Honda CRV is called, but my red Saturn Vue is Lola. It's a scary thing when your child finally gets a car - and actually drives it. But we've survived nicely (although my son did manage to lose his license in the first six months and was back to his bicycle for a short time). My son, much like his grandfather and great-grandfather, tried out the studly pose.