The picture is from 1968 at my parents home in southwest Florida. This was my very first car.

 

The car is a '65 Midget. It was black (int) on red (ext). The "wheels" are actually hub caps over steel wheels; probably from Western Auto. It was an attempt to get that mag wheel look on a high school kid's budget...not bad, eh? The tires are oversized, tall blackwalls; the rears were larger than the fronts. You'll also notice, if you look real close, a disappearing (manual) radio antenna on the top of the right rear fender next to where she is standing. The remainder of the car is pretty much stock. I remember that there was a home-made blanking plate where the tach should have been; the tach had been stolen out of the car on the dealer's lot the week before I bought it. Replacement tach's were impossible to find; a new one was not affordable.

 

I drove the car with a buddy of mine to the Sebring race in '68 probably just before this picture was taken. A guy backed into the front and did minor damage. Got it repaired and a few weeks later blew a tire during a driving rain on a tight curve on the way to my girlfriend's. Rolled once; no serious damage to me except for a throbbing headache and some blood from the top of my head. Went home, showered, borrowed my mom's car and went to see my girl. An hour later she was trying to get me to go to the hospital for the (still) throbbing/bleeding head when I pulled out a 3/4" shard from a broken dish (she made great brownies) that had been on the passenger seat in the wreck. New windshield, reattached the drivers seat to the floor, some body work, and paint...light blue with a new $49 white convertible top from JC Whitney.

 

I sold the car to my brother and sister-in-law in Atlanta the summer of '69 for college tuition money, still regret it. They drove it home and around Atlanta for a year. Sold it to a guy who totaled it two weeks later.

 

The photo is all that remains of the car...and the girl.