My First Car – 1988 Plymouth Reliant K Station Wagon

A man’s first car is a rite of passage, a symbol of pride. For Eric Foreman of "That 70′s Show," he got a Vista Cruiser. For me? It was a 1988 Plymouth Reliant K Station Wagon. I’ve never been a big "car guy," but I do have fond memories of each vehicle I’ve owned. So I will try to tell you about each one, the first is the Reliant K Station Wagon.

Yes my friends, this is my first car and I can vaguely remember the day we got it. I remember there was a little snow on the ground (as evidenced by this picture). I don’t remember if I was excited about this purchase, unexcited, or impartial. I think part of my rationale was that "beggars can’t be choosers," and that I would have to go with whatever my Dad bought me.

It’s funny how someone can take so much pride in their first car. Yes, I had the fuzzy dice hanging from the rear view mirror. Yes, I installed an after-market CD player and box speakers that sat in the back (covered with an afghan). But it was my first car, it allowed me to leave the comfort of the 46240 zip code and explore. In fact, I think one of the first places I went to was Donatos up on Range Line Road in Carmel to visit my old manager, Kathy. I would even drive all the way up to Greyhound Pass (which seemed far for me) to grab some White Castle. Ahh… those were the days.

The car itself was in pretty good shape, except for the torn headliner and the air conditioning didn’t work. It had a bench seat in the front and in the back, with the back seat able to fold down. The car had it’s factory radio, but I took that out and put in a Sony Xplod CDX-4000 along with two tweeter speakers in the front dash. I think I was most excited about the stereo. It wasn’t the best on the market, but I could program in the station names and if the CDs I played had CD-Text enabled, it would show the song/artist playing. For a small car, it actually sounded pretty good without needing an amp.

Instead of replacing the speakers in the back, I unwired them and put two 12" MTX box speakers back there. They fit well behind the back seat and I put one of my great-grandma’s afghans to cover them… corny, I know. But you know what? That afghan actually fit in with the vehicles colors!

My First Accident

You’re probably wondering about my first accident. It’s actually kind of funny that I can remember a lot about that night. I was coming home from my friend Rick’s house and was approaching the 75th and College Avenue intersection. It was raining and appropriately, Dido’s "Thank You" was playing on my radio… well, it was either DIdo or Enya’s "Orinoco Flow," something stupid like that. The stop light was flashing red for me, I looked both ways, but as soon as I drove into the intersection, this truck comes barreling into the intersection and smashed into a tree. My heart was pounding as I pulled over, the truck was smoking and I called out to the guy to ask if he was alright. "My truck is f**king totaled, and you’re asking if I’m alright?!"

After a few minutes, he calmed down and the police and fire department came. My Dad came out to help me deal with being in my first "accident." I don’t remember exactly what the outcome of that accident was, I can’t remember if I was claimed at-fault or not.

I can’t remember if I had any other accidents in that car. I do remember trying to back the car into the garage and the passenger-side mirror ripped off… which sent me to my first experience with a junk yard to find a new mirror, ha ha!

The Car’s Demise

It’s been probably eight years since I’ve had this car and I remember its share of problems. I’m almost positive that this was the car that had problems with the fan belt. I would be driving home from Ivy Tech and I’d be stopped at the intersection of 38th and Meridian Street with the fan belt squealing. It’s always fun to have a pedestrian let you know what the problem with your car is.

But the car’s ultimate demise was a cracked radiator or something like that… shows how long it’s been. But it was a good first car, one that I wasn’t too worried about wrecking. Aside from the mirror coming off, the car body was still in good shape when we donated it to Goodwill.

 So long 1988 Plymouth Reliant K Station Wagon… you were an excellent first car.