A Driving History 9: The '92 Ford Telstar TX5

I'm ashamed to admit it, but this isn't the first Ford I've owned.  The Falcon ute was also a Ford.

This car marks the first manual I ever bought though it was actually bought as Lois's car..  It was a good little car.  Had great lines, and an extremely peppy 2.6L v6.  It was quick off the mark and would handle 110 in third gear.

It was so quick, in fact, that Lois got a speeding ticket in it.  This ticket remains the only one that I've known about that she has had in the entire time I've known her.  She got nicked doing 70 in a 50 zone.  I can't gloat too much though, I once got 3 tickets in one year, all in different cars.

We lived on a college campus for a while, and this college had a road that had virtually no traffic on it for many weeks per year.  I used to practice driving the car up and down the road, getting used to starts, and gear changes.  I thought I had it down, so I actually drove the car one day.  On the road.

I live in Queensland, and you need a special license to drive a manual automobile.  You can have an automatic license or an open license.  I'd only driven automatics in Canada, but because my provincial license had no such designation, when I moved to Queensland, I was given an open license. bwahahahaha! Score one for me!

So anyways, I had to go get Lois from somewhere up town, so I got in the TX5 and drove it.  And I wasn't doing too bad, driving out on the street.  I picked her up and was driving home.  As I turned off Gill street, a police cruiser got behind me.

Because I wasn't completely proficient at driving the stick, I got a bit nervous.  I was a bit worried.  Then Lois says," There's a police car behind us.  Don't do anything stupid."  (Why is it that when people say that to me, it guarantees the stupidity?)

I thought, yeah thanks for that.  And I tensed up even more.

And then we got to a stop sign. so far so good.  I didn't stall it pulling up, and put the stick back in first.  Still the police sat right behind me.  And then it was time to go.

I popped the clutch.  The front tyre squealed, and the coppers put on their blue and reds.

I pulled up to the side of the road, and promptly stalled it.  The police came up and asked for my license and checked the registration.  Lois turned 3 shades of red in embarrassment.  I hastily explained to the police that it was my first time driving a manual in Australia.  They gave my license back, along with a warning, and a suggestion.  I should let my wife drive the rest of the way home.  Which I did.

She chucked shit on me about it for a week.

We traded in the car when it started spending more time at the auto electrician's that it was on the road.  Mechanically, the car was fine.  But the electrics all over the car became a constant issue.

Next time:  The 2003 Holden One Tonner