You ever remember your first time?

That “first time” feeling only comes once. The feelings, the emotions, and that sense of freedom of finally going at it by yourself. Like most of us, it had to be around the ages of 15-16 where you were able to take the written part of the test and get a drivers permit. After a few months, you were finally able to get your drivers license and finally be able to drive a car on your own. That’s the “first time” feeling I’m talking about.

It’s a sense of freedom for us. It was a way to get out of the house. Driving our buddies around knowing damn well it was illegal to do so as minors. Staying out past the mandated 10pm curfew here. I still remember doing the dumb shit we did as teenagers and I’m glad we never got in trouble or any accidents because of it.

I am extremely lucky that the first car that I learned to drive on was my Mom’s Mercedes Benz. It was an early 2000’s E320 in white. Was a basic 4 door car that my Mom would pickup and drop us off in for school and activities. After a couple years of driving it around and doing all the family duties, my Mom gave the car to my Grandpa and he’s had it ever since. He recently got a new car so that meant the car was given back to my family…

And here we are today. Recently got the title transferred over to my name. Car has 118,000 miles on it and looks pretty decent for its age. The smell, the feels, it all hit me like a ton of bricks driving it for the first time in over 15 years. Not many of us get the chance to drive their first car they learned to drive on again and man it was a rush!!! The car is more sentimental than anything. KBB thinks this car is worth $1000 and it shows cause insurance was $120 the entire year for me!

The plans for the car is to leave it alone and not spend a single dime on it for a long time. It needs a TON of work to be up to speed but it’ll be on the back burner for a long time. The clear coat is basically gone, brakes probably need to be replaced, and doing regular engine maintenance will be high on the list. I also have this ABS light on that needs to be figured out before I take it on long drives cause airbag safety is something I care about and you should too. PSA: Stop removing airbags from your cars…

The plans for this car is to maybe make it into a cool beach camping car and put a roof top tent on it? Or maybe slam it on big wheels and have a cool cruiser car? Let me know your thoughts!

– Kurtis