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David Holzman's avatar

My family of origin lived in Stanford '70-'71. I had driven the '62 Falcon--my father's beater--across the country, having asked for it instead of a plane ticket as both had about the same value. (they probably would have given me the Peugeot (pictured in the story, across the street from our Paris apartment, photo by me) and I'd regret more not having asked for it if I thought I could have kept it going all these years.) I got a girlfriend across the street kitty-corner from us, and she and I would drive into SF and walk all over, or go to the ocean. At Gunn High School, I learned to tune the Falcon. But I didn't have the patience for major auto repair.

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TCinLA's avatar

I bought a Honda CVCC "Civic" in 1975. After discovering that most American mechanics then had no clue what to do with those cars, I got a mechanically-adept friend to teach me basic tune ups and maintained the car myself. You could buy a manual for it that was about the size of a phone book, that had every single process for everything in it, with step-by-step instructions and illustrated with photos that had arrows pointing at the things you had to deal with. I did a ring and valve job on it, following that manual. Of course, that was all back when you could work on cars, something that's impossible now.

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David Holzman's avatar

that was the car I would have gotten had I been into cars at that stage of my life. 1975 was the summer I bicycled across the country. The Japanese were so much more inventive with cars.

I did change my spark plugs on my Civic a couple of years ago.

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kdsherpa's avatar

(kitty-corner)

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David Holzman's avatar

Thank you KD. I feel like I'm usually the one giving corrections, which probably comes from being on the spectrum, and I've proofed several friends' books.

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kdsherpa's avatar

LOL!

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