My First...

I can still remember my first...when I was just over 16 years old.

I am now half-way between 67 and 68 years old.

Fifty-one years later, I still remember.

That's a 1951 Studebaker Champion.  It was my first car.  Well, not that exact car, but one like it.  Not that color, mine was more maroon in color.  Mine was never that clean n' shiny.  Mine had some rather obvious rust spots.  The nice chrome hood ornament on the car pictured above was missing from my car.

When I got my car the world suddenly became larger and more accessible all at the same time.  Gas was cheap back in 1961.  27 cents per gallon.  And just to run some historical trivia for a moment: back in 1961, the average cost of a new home in the U.S. was $12,500; a first-class postage stamp was 4 cents; a gallon of milk cost 49 cents; and the Dow Jones hit a high of 734.  The average income in 1961 was $5,315.  I can still remember my dad telling me, as he was showing me how to fill out a tax form, that if he ever made $10,000 per year we would be rich!

The average cost of a new car in 1961 was $2,600.00. For that kind of money you probably could have purchased one of these beauties:

That's a '61 Chevy Impala.  Nice.  Very cool.

And a '61 Desoto.  The Chrysler Corporation used to produce that car.  Nice, I guess, but not cool. 

In 1961 John F. Kennedy was inaugurated as President of the U.S.  Later that year, Kennedy told American families to build bomb shelters.

The Berlin Wall was begun in 1961.  Also that year, The Peace Corps was established, the UN General Assembly condemned Apartheid, and sadly, the first direct U.S. military involvement in Vietnam began.  "Pony Time," by Chubby Checker was released in 1961.

Barack Obama was born in 1961 in Hawaii...although there are some really nutty and nasty people who insist this is not where he was born.  Goobers.

George Clooney, Woody Harrelson, Wayne Gretzky, and Wynton Marsalis were also born in 1961...nobody seems to doubt the fact they were all born in the places they said they were born in.

The first in-flight movie was shown on a TWA flight.

Speaking of flight, Yuri Gagarin was the first human in space.

My first car...just thinking about that 1951 Studebaker, which I became the owner of in 1961...started me thinking about all sorts of things related to 1961.  I ended my sophomore year of high school and began my junior year.  The Yankees beat the Reds in the World Series, 4 games to 1.  Notre Dame's football team had a 5-5 record.  Ugh.

In 1961 I was just 3 years away from becoming the father of twin boys, and moving from Lydick, Indiana to Inglewood, California.  Lydick had a population of about 400, Los Angeles (Inglewood was a part of that sprawling metropolis) had a population of more than 400.  More like 2-and-a-half million.  In 1961, my mother was just a little over 4 years away from dying of cancer. 

Can you remember your first?  And if you can, what other kind of memories flood back when you do?

Lots of luck with that.