My parents made me a real good deal on this car.  This was very nice of them.  It was a very good car.  I feel kind of bad about this now because after selling me this car they went out and bought a 1973 Pontiac Ventura Hatchback.  I even helped them find this car.  It also was a very good deal.  No wonder, from day one it was a dog.  Isn't that old saying usually so true, "You get what you pay for".  My parents did, I didn't.  This is the sort of thing good parents do for their children.  Kids usually do not appreciate these things until they are much older.  I know I did not at the time, but now I do.  They were teaching me how to be a good parent some day.  Big lessons like these take time to sink in.

I used this car to drive back to the cold north and start my new post-school life and career as an unskilled laborer.  The Swinger was a very good car.  If I recall, it did not need one repair the entire time I owned it. 

Of course my first Swinger mod was the Pioneer stereo.  Yes I still had it and it still sounded great. 

After a while Swinger sort of grew on me.  It was real nerdy, but yet at the same time kind of familiar and friendly.  Kind of comforting.  And the blue metallic color was very good looking I thought at the time.  The black vinyl interior was stark but nice and the plastic wood grained wheel was actually kind of might I say "sporty".  And there was the black vinyl top.  Now I hate vinyl tops, but at the time they seemed kind of cool like I was money.  It seemed to me that almost every Swinger I ever saw had a vinyl top.  Goes with the Swinger territory I suppose.

I do not remember too much from my time with Swinger since I did not have it very long.  This is another reason I feel bad about the car.  After my parents made me this great deal so I would have a reliable car, I go and sell it for a profit.  And to add insult to severe injury the Swinger's replacement was not a car but rather a motorcycle!  A brand new 1974 Racing Blue Yamaha XS 500B.  Needless to say this vehicular move was not popular with my folks back home in Florida. 

Swinger will always make me think of my Mom who drove the car much longer than I did.   She kind of liked driving a "Swinger".  She always claimed to be young at heart so the Swinger fit her street cred.  My Mom  passed away some time ago.  Maybe she can still hear me.  "Sorry about the Swinger, Mom."

So here I was living in New Jersey with a motorcycle as my primary transportation.  This was inconvenient at times, especially with things like going to the Acme and doing my wash at the Laundromat.  I can only imagine what my Mom was going through in Florida while she knew I was up here living in danger with that two wheeled beast.  Eventually she made my Dad drive up from Florida with my sister's old 1964 Falcon convertible and leave it at my door step.  He was not a happy camper about this situation.  Who could blame him?

Goodbye Swinger, hello Falcony #2.....