Wednesday, April 9, 2008

70's HOT ROD

This post is not about a cool 70’s muscle car. But for those of you old enough you probably had more experiences in a car like this. For those of you not old enough, count your blessings you had air conditioning. The family cruiser, whatever make and model you had they all pretty much were the same back then.

Roll mental camera…

So I am rolling with mom in the hot, and I mean hot, orange Chevy Vega. It had black faux leather seats, otherwise known as vinyl. I remember the day as a bit on the warm side for Oklahoma. That meant the vinyl was just right for peeling the flesh off of any exposed area of your body. It is of course the 70’s and so I would have been wearing shorts that I am not sure had a measurable inseam. But hey that was the style. The back of my legs would have paid dearly but I had remembered to bring a towel to sit on. OK on with the real story...

We were running low on gas so we pull into the station near our house. Mom hops out and begins to fill up. Yes just like that, no prepaying or pump start cards, amazing I know. When the car was full, at a cost of a whopping $9, she jumped into the car to get her purse. At that point she realized she had left it at home. So what would any good mom of the 70’s do, you might ask? SHE FLOORED IT.

Just kidding, but that probably would have been the safer bet. No she left me at the station as collateral. What is even funnier is that the gas station was OK with that. She ran home and got her purse and came to collect me. She trusted them to keep me safe. They trusted her to actually return to pick me up. I trusted that my mom would actually come back to pay because gas was only 75 cents a gallon. We all trusted each other.

If we tried that today the owner would want to have us arrested for trying to steal gas. We would rather leave our car than trust a person with our kids. Protective services would show up if we had the gall to leave our kids. Trust is running thin in people but maybe that will force us to trust in God alone.

Do you think the lack of trust in man helps man trust God more?

Do you think the lack of trust in man has hindered the growth of the Christian church?

Do you remember the pain of hot vinyl, or were pawned for gas?

7 comments:

Heidi said...

Oh, the days of black vinyl.. Yes, I remember the gas stations back then too, they would pump your gas. Yesterday in San Diego, I paid $3.89 a gallon for the Arco crud.

Really.. TRUST.. we all miss it I think. It's definately not in then churches anymore or in our schools. Everyone seems to think of the worst.

But then like living here in SD, there are bars on most windows, back in the 70"s we never locked our doors??

The question should be will trust be ever restored again??

Theresa said...

I started laughing when I saw the picture. I was like is that a Vega? And started to read and realized Yes it is and Yes I am getting old. I do remember black faux leather. My mom had it in her Pinto. :)

I trust in the Lord more than man. I also do things like never lock my car doors. I had a car broken into through the window once and it was so expensive to replace the glass that I would have preferred them to just be able to get in without causing damage. I also get a good laugh at the person that will dare to steal my CD's. They are all Christian music. So if I ever find them missing I will know that the Lord is working through them. :)

Natalie Witcher said...

I've left my share of skin in the car. I remember gas being that cheap! I think our lack of trust in each other makes it more difficutl to trust God, to be honest.

Unknown said...

I think I may have to agree with Natalie a bit on this; however I do think that a lack of trust in man allows us to more easily turn to God, as there are few others that you can turn to than a higher power without trust in an earthly man.

I do think the lack of trust in man has hindered the church...because man runs the church. Men stumble and fall and unfortunately, we have seen this in many of our church organizations throughout the world, thus making it difficult to trust in the church.

Yes I remember the black vinyl, Dad had a Stang and it burned your legs up good if you wore shorts, but it had a killer hole in the floor board so I could sit down there and watch the road go by, throw stuff out it...fun times:)

Anonymous said...

I remember somehow owning an Oldsmobile Toronado when I was too young to appreciate it. I remember a friend telling me in a very excited tone of voice what all you could do with a car that weighed that much, had that engine and front-wheel drive. I managed to wreck it before I burnt all the rubber off those front tires whipping it around corners and churning smoke at the stop lights. Funnest car I ever owned. I don't recall trusting much. I do miss that car though.(grin)

Anonymous said...

I really think that if man trusted man, what is visible, they would be more likely to trust God who is not visible. It's sad.

Not only do I remember that era, I remember dating a guy, in 1973, who drove a mint condition 1966 Camaro. Don't want to talk about the price of gas, we're paying $1.12 per LITRE up here!

Amy said...

I drove a '72 Monte Carlo with black vinyl. The backs of my legs hurt reading this post.
I was pawned for gas on a date once. It was our last date.
And I agree with Natalie. We are suspicious of everyone's intentions. Even God.
I blame Dateline's "To Catch a Predator".