My first 3 cars.....cheap gas.....freedom
Cars: The Modern Modes of Freedom
During my high school and college years I went through 3 cars. I got my first car at age 16. My dad had plenty of friends to acquire used cars from. He didn't just give it to me. He set up a payment plan and I started working part-time jobs and paid him back. It was a 1962 Chevrolet Impala in pristine condition and I loved that car! After I started at Mars Hill University located 6 hours away up in the Appalachians at age 17, my dad helped me to upgrade with a gas efficiency car, a 1966 Volkswagon Beetle. After, I transferred to East Carolina University the following year, my dad got me the sweetest dream car, at least it was to me-- a 1968 Chevrolet Malibu Convertible. I had neglected taking proper car of my bug and cracked the block. Live and learn. Between transfers, I got briefly married to a supposedly rehabilitated junkie. Except he wasn't and I left him. I stayed single for the duration, happy to be free of that insanity, driving around campus, blaring Bob Dylan and Sea Level. I loved that car. However, while visiting my parents in Goldsboro, an elderly man ran a stop sign almost ramming me at the driver's door. Luckily, he hit the left front fender instead. I ended up selling the car to my cousin and keeping the insurance money for other expenses that had piled up. I was living on the threshold of poverty while driving a nice car. It projected a false image and truthfully, I had yet to find myself. I did not know who I was or what I wanted to be.My first 3 cars brought me liberty of which I could learn about life in the ways that I chose. I made lots of mistakes in the name of discovery....but I could never imagine the changes in this world that I have witnessed. that has had negative influences on that freedom. Gas prices are like the bread prices of past inflationism-- created by greedy governments comprised of greedy politicians. In today's oblique world, it's better to keep one's worth under wraps. Don't flaunt it.
Peeps just can’t handle the spectrum within the wealth's influences. I have great respect for those who earn it with a healthy work ethic. I respect even more, those that continue to be good stewards of the wealth they amass regardless of the sources. Inherited wealth is the most problematic and is often squandered away and the newly fledged pauper fades out of existence in a matter of time.The problems I have observed have always existed. It has to do with parenting more than it has to do with position. Wealth has no effect or influence on me. I do not judge others by their material wealth or prestige. I have known and consoled a few of the famous in my lifetime that found comfort in those moments with me. Intimidation was totally non-existent. But, I deliberately steered my life in the opposite direction because I saw how money can make one become evil and I knew my place. I was never a debutaunt. My father was raised in the Adirondack Mountains in a Catholic family. Poverty knocked on their door when his father died a week before his 10th birthday. My dad was #4 out of 8 siblings. He loved girls, cars and art. He had an art scholarship that came a week too late, and thinking he wasn't accepted, joined the Air Force. I'm proud of my dad....his own tree is still waiting for discovery....I have only been able to get to my 3rd great grandparents....I thought were German, but recently learned they were Austrian and came over to America as adults via Canada. They are a mystery....but I do know my 3rd great grandmother was 20 years older than Peter Hine, my 3rd great grandfather, and that he changed the original spelling from "Hein". I never had much interest before because I thought it was impossible to trace any of my ancestral roots. My interests changed when I learned I could trace some of it, anyway.....thanks to my antique family Bible that I inherited. I do know that life is as liquid as money is transient and flunctuating..... I have learned through experience...when I was younger and single and solo, I soared....I loved the freedom my car allowed me to experience and life was affordable....what happened?
The churning of Bull Markets. Corrupted by artificial manipulation.The progressive Liberals touting their socialist/communistic notions, promoted as pure democracy, the Hippy-ish Hillary and Bill, The Pelosi family, many other elitist oligarchs rising up to become problematic politicians that took over until we got the final "ObamaNation" and outside invaders found the Achilles heal in our government system. And here we find ourselves-
I share the record of it, just looking at the gas prices:
The average retail price of a gallon of gasoline in the United States rose from 36 cents in 1970 to 60 cents by 1976, driven primarily by the 1973 oil crisis.Yearly Average Prices1970: $0.36 per gallon1971: $0.36 per gallon1972: $0.36 per gallon1973: $0.39 per gallon1974: $0.53 per gallon1975: $0.57 per gallon1976: $0.60 per gallonKey Market Factors1973 Oil Embargo: Arab members of OPEC proclaimed an oil embargo in October 1973, which quadrupled crude oil prices globally and caused a sharp jump at U.S. pumps between 1973 and 1974.Price Controls: Federal price controls implemented during this era kept the recorded nominal averages lower than free-market clearing prices, leading to localized shortages and long lines at service stations.
What does our future hold?
No one knows.
Speculations are often overturned by unpredictable surprises.
There is no escaping the monkeys' wrench.
Short story by Clara Mae Gregory
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Written on 2026-07-24 at 17:17
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Clara Mae Gregory |
