A dream awakens a memory....

Kinda, sorta carrying on from here http://behindthewheelgaming.blogspot.ca/2016/08/a-dream-come-true.html I realized that my dream of owning my first convertible happened to awaken an old memory of the first car I had named Lebaron....

Although this wasn't my car, it is virtually the same in just about every way. If I remember right, it was the fall of 1995 and I was living the not-so-high life of a single guy. I was working, part time, as a late night dishwasher/prep cook and general jack of all kitchen trades at a local, family owned restaurant. I made a decent wage and was saving up to buy a car, to better cope with the cooling weather walk to and from my job.

I can't recall to clearly how I wound up with the car (I want to believe I came across a good cash deal and just bought it, I am not exactly sure), but it was one of my better ones from those days. Like I said before, it was a twin for the car pictured above, minus the bumper sticker and trailer hitch. No rust to speak of and the 318 cid V8 ran exceptionally well. Not bad for a '78 Chrysler!

Step one, I bought the car and drove it home (no insurance and only straight to the parking lot out back of the apartment building I was living in at the time). Step two, time to save up for insurance. This part is another fuzzy recollection, I can't figure out how or why I never managed to put plates and a policy on the thing. For months, it just sat out back with the occasion visit from me, to start it up and keep the fluids moving.

I do remember the very last day I owned it though. It was late November and the first snowfalls had come and gone, but the early winter that year had set in with some real force. The LeBaron had froze to the ground, thanks to the snow melting, freezing and repeating that cycle. I had this friend who was just starting up a tow truck company and I ask them to give me a hand to pull my Chrysler free from the ice.

That request would seal it's future. The chain was stretched out and hooked up to the back of the car (it was parked "nose in") and I slipped behind the wheel. The car was started and I put it into reverse, my friend got into their truck and started to creep forward. As luck would have it, they spun a single rock back at me. The back window popped and I just sat there, realizing not only what just happened, but also pretty sure how much that was about to cost me.

The next day, I made a deal with another friend to trade the LeBaron for a Dodge Aspen sedan. A new back window, plus the install, was going to cost more than what I had paid for the whole car (I priced it out, over the phone and nearly passed out from the answer)! My other friend had plans for the LeBaron and their Aspen in trade was better suited for what I needed, a complete running car and ready to be insured.

Although I never really drove it and it sat more than it moved, it's funny how a vehicle from twenty years later can spark the movie in the mind about another place and time, just because they share a name.