For my generation, there were several benchmark events we counted down to in life. Getting your first bike, having your first girlfriend/boyfriend, getting to high school, getting your driver’s license, and owning your first vehicle. These were milestones that we lived for, or at least I did, and I have stories to tell about all of them, but for now, we’re just focusing on the story of how I came to own my first ride that would become known as “The Red Hornet”.
The Red Hornet was a 1987 Nissan SE V6 extended cab hardbody pickup trip. I don’t know a lot about its early history, but it came into my life when my brother bought it from Popsicle Sweat, who had a little used car lot back in the country here in Southwest Virginia, back in 1991. He rode it around for two years before deciding there was another truck he’d rather have and was going to sell the Hornet to get the money he needed.
The Nissan had proven to be a dependable workhorse of a vehicle and my dad knowing a good truck when he’s seen one, bought it from him in a cash deal. My dad owned numerous vehicles due to having a business, and none of them got a lot of use since he was constantly rotating which one he drove around.
After a year of owning it, Dad was also in the market to sell the Nissan if a good offer came around. At this point in 1993, I was a year away from getting my license and knew I was going to be in the market for a ride of my own soon. I really liked the truck, and since family was involved I thought I could get a good deal on it if I were the one to buy it. To my surprise though, Dad asked the same amount from me that he was asking everyone else…$1200.
For most fifteen-year-olds, this would be a huge sum of money, but I wasn’t normal. I was lucky in the fact that my dad owned his own business, and even more fortunate that he gave me a job when I was just 14. He didn’t pay me much, but I had income. I offered to work for free until the truck was paid for. An idea that he shot down. He wanted cash.
In a strange way of handling the deal, he went to the bank and took out a personal loan for the $1200 with the truck itself being collateral. He then gave me the payment book, and I had to make the payment each month. Once the loan was paid back, he would sign the title over to me. With this kind of goal and expectation in mind, I worked my butt off for him throughout 1993 and even did odd jobs for other people to raise even more money. It was probably the most determined to accomplish something that I’ve ever been in my life.
Some months I made two payments instead of one, and had cut the payments down from 12 months to just 8. On January 30, 1994, I turned 16 years old. I had my learner’s permit, so I drove the Hornet with Dad tagging along to the DMV and got my official driver’s license. We left there and went to the bank where I made the final two payments on the truck and he got the title back. He signed it, and we headed back to the DMV to change ownership.
On my 16th birthday, I became the proud owner of my very own vehicle that I had worked a year for. It was a feeling of pride that I’ve rarely been able to match in the years since.
Since it was my birthday, my brother bought for me, and installed, a Pioneer CD player. I considered this a major upgrade being that having an in-dash CD player in 1994 was still a bit on the rare side. I also took it the following week and had the chrome tip exhaust pipes put on it which you can see in the picture. Those tips made the truck sound like an angry bee or hornet, and that’s how it came to be known as the Red Hornet.
Having that truck of my very own meant the world to me. I was now able to stop riding the bus and start driving to school which upped my coolness factor quite a bit. More friends wanted to hang out with me since I could drive us places. More girls were willing to say yes when I asked them on a date since I could drive us there. Owning that truck was one of the greatest feelings in the world, and a whole host of memories was made in that truck through the years.
The Red Hornet was my ride for four years…right up until I bought a Mustang. The changes in life that happened once I made the switch from the Red Hornet to the Mustang are stories for another time though. But to own the Mustang, I had to sell the truck. It had held its value quite well in the four years I owned it, and I sold it back to my Dad for $1000. So I got four years of driving it and all it really cost me was $200. That’s a pretty good deal.
The Red Hornet stayed in the family until about 2004 when my Dad finally sold it outside of the family. A few years after that I saw it heading down the road, still being loud, still sounding like a pissed-off hornet, and with a pimply-faced teenager behind the wheel. I hope he was aware of what that truck represented as I was in the days when I sat behind that wheel and cruised the open road of freedom.
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