Why Your First Car is like Your First Love

On MTV's "When I Was 17," R&B star Trey Songz reminisced about his first car, a 1984 Honda Accord LX. Although it definitely wasn't the most tricked out car, I totally understood why he loved his car and called it his "baby." The man even sang about it. For car lovers and first-car owners, there's no other way to describe that first ride.

I still remember my first car and how I got it. I came home after my sophomore year at Northern Michigan University, and I'd decided two things. 1) I was never going to set foot in Marquette, MI for the rest of my life because I hated NMU. 2) I wanted my own car because I was dead tired of riding in taxis, shuttle style college buses and impatiently waiting for rides from college friends. I also couldn't handle another ride out of state with friends or friends' parents who chain-smoke because that was killing my lungs, especially if they didn't roll down the windows. That was the longest eight hours of my life.

I was going to get a summer job and get the first running car I could find, and because I am obsessed with the color maroon, it would be either maroon already or painted maroon. When I came back home to Chicago, I couldn't figure out why my older brother wasn't there to greet me. In the two years I'd been in college, he wrote me a couple times, would always e-mail me and usually took the eight-hour drive with my mother to come get me if my father didn't feel like going. But he was nowhere to be found.

Later on that weekend, my brother's wife came to my room and asked me to follow her. She kept grinning like a Cheshire cat so I knew something was up. I saw my brother outside and stopped to hug him, but I was wondering why was he leaning on somebody's car with a bow on it. I put two and two together and burst into tears. I found out that my brother drove his car to Atlanta to meet my godfather, who'd secretly bought a '91 Plymouth Sundance at an auction, stripped the entire car and rebuilt it. Not only did my godfather put a new engine in it, he also painted the outside of it maroon. I called him soon after and barely got my "Thank you" out because I was crying so hard. It was one of the top most thoughtful gifts I've ever received.

I totally agreed with Trey Songz about the love of one's first car. There were some flaws to my first car though. I got pulled over twice for not having a license plate, but the cops always let me go with a warning. When I finally got my plates, then there were issues with the engine. It would stop for no reason at all, but after going to two mechanics, none of them could find anything wrong with the engine. Even my godfather's father took a look at the car. The engine was fine. It just wasn't a great match for the car, and there were starter plug issues. I didn't care. After the second ignition turn, it'd start right back up. My godfather's father told me the car would probably last a year. I made it last for four years. I think everybody was surprised about that one.

My college friends at Lincoln University would jump right in the car, and we'd blast music to parties. When I got new rims on the car, it made the car look much better and even caught the attention of a guy I was talking to at the time. Of course when I opened the doors, the inside of the car paint was still blue. (My godfather was trying to get the car back to me before I could buy my own, and my mother told him there was no way I was going to wait and I'd ruin his surprise and his money if I didn't get it soon. I didn't know this of course.) The paint issue didn't matter to me though. Nobody drove with their doors open so unless you were worthy of being in my car you'd never know. (Side note: Trey Songz ended up getting into a car accident and his replacement parts on a blue car were a gray door and a gray fender. The two-toned car didn't seem to phase him either.)

When I finally sold my Plymouth Sundance in 2005, I went three years without a car just to save up money and take care of other things. Truth be told, taking care of a car is a lot of money. The next car I got was my 2007 Suzuki Forenza. I love that car almost as much as my first one. I get asked, "Why is your car always so clean?" from more guys than women. I've actually had people skip a parking spot so their car didn't look as dirty. My neighbors crack jokes about it, but I've always been a car kinda girl. I couldn't tell you anything about diamonds and pawned my high school and college ring and a necklace once to make a car payment during a really rough time. But it was worth it to me. Still is. Diamonds and shoes may be some girls' best friend, but mine are cars and dogs. (R.I.P. to Shep.) And men, too.