Old School Parking

Nance wrote a post the other day about parking and I nearly left a novel in my comment, and it was fun to see what the other commenters said as well. However, I did not even say everything that I wanted to say, so I thought I would make my own post so I could say it all. You should go and read her post (and comments) but if you don't the TLDR is that it was about backing into parking spots/spaces/driveways etc. 

When I first got my license and was able to sometimes drive, I often drove one of the two cars my parents owned. The first was a 5-speed manual Dodge Caravan that I did drive to soccer, even though I was not a Mom. Given that we lived on a windy mountainous road, I don't even think I even got into 5th gear for a while after I started driving. I drove this in all sorts of weather, including snow, and once even hit some ice, spun out, and did a 360 or maybe a 720 before luckily landing in a snowdrift and not careening off the edge of the canyon, which caused the engine to jerkily stutter and then stall. I sat there dazed for a few minutes and then did as you must do, started the car back up and carried on my way in the drifting snow. I don't think we put on snow tires in those days. 

I also got to drive my Dad's work truck, which was a 1980-something 4-speed manual Toyota flatbed stake side (the kind with wood slats on the side) truck that had a backup beeper and did not have power steering. 

It looked like this

So, coming back to Nance's post about backing into parking spots, I tried my hardest to NEVER have to back that truck up. It was so embarrassing to be parking in the school parking lot and have to back up, causing the truck to emit a high beeping noise, and everyone's head to swivel my way (or so I thought). I would do very creative things in order to not have to back into or out of a parking spot when any other humans were in the general vicinity. Plus if you had to "whip into" a spot, the lack of power steering made that incredibly difficult. There really was no whipping in this truck. 

Then I got my own car. It was a 1978 Mercedes 240D, which is a diesel car, very sturdy, accident proof, according to my parents, a tank, according to me. It got the job done but one of my conditions of getting a car was that I had to fix it myself. 

Working on the car (c. 1998)

Luckily a 1978 diesel engine car is actually quite straightforward compared to what is out there now, and I actually COULD fix it myself. However, when something went wrong with the starter, and I didn't get around to fixing it right away, I had to do a workaround to start the car, which was to pop the clutch. 

If you have ever had to pop the clutch you will recall that this generally involves one person driving and several people pushing the car until it goes fast enough that you can pop the clutch and get the car started. If you are alone, this is much more difficult, especially when your car is a tank. I cannot really push the car and pop the clutch at the same time, although I have seen some people with lighter cars or stronger muscles do it! This meant that to be able to start the car in case I was alone, I had to park backwards on a hill so that when I started it up I could roll it down the hill and pop the clutch all on my own (I guess this is how I became independent!) It actually was quite effective, if I could get one of the one or two parking spots that fit this criteria. If I could not, I had to beg people to push my car so I could start it. Let's just say that I did not make a lot of friends during this time of my life. Or maybe I did, since I had to talk to a lot of people whether I wanted to or not. 

I did fix the car on my own, but not before popping the clutch on nearly all of the hills in the town I went to school in. However, as a 17 year old, doing this was highly superior to not having a car at all. 

Also, I lived in San Francisco and other places where I had to parallel park*, and this honed my skills in that aspect. Not only that, but I learned to be aggressive. If you have ever driven around for several (or 40) minutes looking for a parking spot in the evening, only to find one, start parallel parking (backing) into it despite the fact that you are holding up traffic to do it, and then have some jerk try to pull into it while you are taking it, you will know what I mean. I guess I will chalk this up to yet another useless skill for my list: parallel parking and doing it fast, and even being willing to yell at someone in my way if I need to. I can also tie a cherry stem in a knot with my tongue if it is long enough, and can recite all the words to Freaks of the Industry or Baby Got Back without any backup lyrics. Three gold stars for me. 

*Actually I did not have a car when I lived in San Francisco, but I regularly had friends ask me to help them park their car. 

Good luck parking here

So, the question that Nance posed was, do you reverse into parking spots? I think after having to sneak into the parking lot after everyone else with the truck, then worry about popping the clutch with the car, then back into parallel parking spots, I got pretty good at backing into the spot (mostly so that I would not have to back out of it later). So even today, the answer to her question is yes, but the caveat is that I would do it in my own driveway, or maybe in a spot that has a wall behind it, but I probably would not do it in a pull through spot, like at the grocery store for example. The funny thing is that I used to make fun of my Dad for doing it, and it seems like it was mostly men that did it, but now here we are. (*PS I think my Mom usually pulls in forward and my Dad definitely still backs into spots!) 

So now I ask you: do you reverse into parking spots? What kind of parking mishaps have you had in your life?