The little car was designed to “capture the spirit of America” by blending “modern practical features” with “American car designs of the past.” So the Chrysler company looked to “the bold styling of the 1920s and 30s through to the 50s and 60s hot rods.” I first saw the Cruiser pictured on a HUGE billboard in Georgia in 2000. I loved it! One of my visiting daughters-in-law spotted the advertisement as well, but she was NOT impressed, even commenting that it was an UGLY car. I knew then it was a generational thing: a campaign targeting the aging Baby Boomer market, and a car that smacked of nostalgia.

In 2006, after decades of driving station wagons, vans, clunkers, Chevies, Oldsmobiles, and Fords, I had the opportunity to pick out my own car THE FIRST TIME EVER.  It’s not that I was a wife whose opinion counted for nothing in the car-buying world, it was just that I hadn’t cared all that much. Price was ALWAYS a factor when purchasing a car, and as our family grew, room was another concern – hence the fun years of crashing driving the Ford Club van. When the transmission went out in our Dodge Caravan for the SECOND time, I told Hubby I knew exactly what I wanted for my next car. A day later, I drove off the lot in my cute little PT Cruiser that I christened Cream Puff, reflecting its yummy color.

I know it’s all so cheesy, but this vehicle is my favorite form of  transportation since my first “real” car that I actually shared with my sister – a 1963 Volkswagen Beetle she and I called Monkey Barf, not exactly its  “official name” but also a reference to its color: monkey-barf yellow. That was such a fun car, and my Cruiser is, too! In fact, when friends, neighbors, and acquaintances see me drive up in my PT, they say, “That car looks like you!” I’m not exactly sure if that is a figurative or a literal reference. I’m either FUN like my automobile or shaped like it!

It’s such a perfect car for me – being the depth perception- impaired person that I am. It sits up high so I that I can actually see out of the BIG windows!  Puff is also ROOMY, thus enabling me to use it as my office on wheels. AND you know how I love to listen to audio books (you do if you read last Tuesday’s post) –  well, this little number features both a CD player AND a tape player! How about that?

After 3 years of driving my little car, I still love it, and when the sad day arrives that I must bid Cream Puff good bye, I hope to replace her with a member of her posterity – IF Chrysler is still in business, and IF they still manufacture Cruisers – which I heard they will, but only as convertibles … now THAT’S fun!

In case you didn’t know PT stands for PERSONAL TRANSPORTATION. As Pete N. of the PT Company claims, ” It is inexpensive, solidly made, well equipped and above all, FUN TO DRIVE.

“Finally the PT Cruiser has that quality very rarely found in cars nowadays – CHARACTER!”

I wonder when someone is going to write a song about my favorite car. “Go little, go little, PTC!”

Nighty Night!