Sunday 5 December 2010

..my first car..

.
..my first car was a 1968 Toyota Corolla..bought in late 1973..I just got married a few months earlier and she was into her 20th week of pregnancy with our first child....means of transport then was a Yamaha 110 cc which I used to send her to school 6 kilometers away from home, a rented house in Lorong Tok Gading, Kota Bharu...

..riding a bike whilst pregnant is bad for health, a friend said, and he loaned me RM1,500 for the down payment to purchase a car..I went along with him, the late Dato Nan Rahimi bin Sulaiman, to choose the model...some friends will go out of their way just to make your life comfortable..

..the first day I  brought home the car, I did not see my mother-in-law walking by..I just got my license then, and was driving by the rules..but I mastered it soon enough and was able to ferry my wife around without much problem..

..it was a simple car, actually..easy to maintain and reliable..there was so much space under the hood that I could wrapped my arms around the engine block...so was my life then..simple and easy to maintain..until, of course, years later, seven children later, when I turned up the dust and dirt....but, then, by then, even cars got complicated...

9 comments:

Pak Zawi said...

Tatak,
Would be marvelous if you manage to keep the car in working condition as it could be a collector's item now.

Unknown said...

..PakZawi..I wished Il had kept it..:)..there's none on the road now..

Pat said...

Our cars from way back then, versus our cars now - I think many of us would agree with you that our cars through the years are the perfect metaphors for our lives, Pak Mat.

Unknown said...

..you r so right, pat..these days I opened the hood and gave it an 'non-comprehende' look..

faraulah said...

Pak Mat, yang ini ker orang panggil Datsun Buah Ulu?

Wan Sharif said...

I believe your first car is the one that my trusted foreman, Ah Lai ( his workshop is known as Workshop Bawah Pokok Besar, Ampang Old Town) still driving to and fro his house in Ampang Jaya to the workshop.. the workshop still repair 2-3 cars per day.. he has 2 loyal workers working with him.
I did asked him, the other day, to depart with it (sell it to me)..He just said.. buat apa?.. kereta tu tak banyak masaalah.. tak mahu jual lah!!

Unknown said...

..no, faraulah..yang ini kita panggil mini volvo..hehehe..

..Pak Wan..cars of old are reliable to a point of being boring..:)

Cat-from-Sydney said...

Abe Mat,
Wow! That car is almost as "young" as my Mama! Shhh....don't let her hear this. But I won't trade her in for a newer model. Ever. purrrr.....meow!

Unknown said...

..no wonder your mama is reliable..they dont make them the way they used to..consider yourself lucky, cats...