My First Car by Matt Stone

A few weeks ago I visited the Frick Museum to see their Fabergé exhibit.  While there I thought I'd mosey on over to the transportation collection.  The Car and Carriage Museum was fabulous! Sooo much better than it looks on the website and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in antique carriages or cars.  Of course, it probably helped that I spent quite a bit of time talking to the docents, who were very helpful and told interesting stories.  While I'm much more of a carriage enthusiast than a car enthusiast, good workmanship should be appreciated in all its forms.  When I happened upon My First Car: Recollections of First Cars from Jay Leno, Tony Stewart, Carroll Shelby, Dan Ackroyd, Tom Wolfe and Many More! the next week I thought I'd check it out. Just like the museum, it was a pleasant surprise!

Let me start by saying that I didn't know who half the people in this book were.  I may have know their last names just because, hey, who hasn't heard of the Andretti family and I've used Meguiar's products on my car but that is about the extent of it.  I was a bit more familiar with some of the TV stars mentioned and since I live in the Pittsburgh area, of course I've heard of Andy Warhol.  But I bet you didn't know that Andy Warhol couldn't drive.  He tried learning to drive when he was 56 but never got past going out with an instructor.  I like learning little pieces of history like that.

The fact that Hugh Hefner's first car was a 1941 Chevy coupe that broke down  the same day he launched Playboy in 1953 is kind of cool.  Tom Wolfe's description of mushrooms growing out of the wood in his old station wagon is strange but as he says "It was a very strange car."  John McEnroe, of tennis fame, went from an old Ford Pinto to a Mercedes 450 SL (I don't even really know what that is but I do know that there is a big difference between a Ford Pinto and a Mercedes.). The story that I liked the best though is that of Piero Ferrari.

I was please to read that Piero's father, Enzo Ferrari, had the wisdom not to give a Ferrari to a teenager. Instead Piero's first car was a Morris Mini 993.   He has a great story about beating a Porsche up a series of hills.  Of course, what comes around goes around so he also has a story about being beat by a Ferrari, which he decided in the long run wasn't such a bad thing.

It was also fun to read about Carroll Shelby being grounded after going 80 mph on the day that he passed his drivers test.  He was 14 at the time.  Anyone surprised that he eventually helped create the Shelby Cobra?  Even I know what a Shelby Cobra is.  (It was 'Ashley' in Gone in Sixty Seconds)

I will say that I think this book is best read over several days.  As a non-car enthusiast I got bogged down a few times but found myself returning again and again.  I really enjoy hearing the quirky little stories that lurk in  everyone's closet, just waiting for the right time to be shared. They're the stories that make history come alive.