Today is Mother’s Day. This is a splendid opportunity to talk about the cars my mom drove around while my sister and I sat in the back seat. While my mother possibly may not appreciate me combining two of the things I love most in life (her and cars), I’ll give her flowers to make up for it.

It’s difficult to get a good answer from my parents about the first car they bought when they arrived in the United States, but I am thinking it was a 1957 Ford Fairlane. They didn’t look upon it too fondly — except from a style perspective — because it was unreliable. Afterward, I believe they bought a used 1965 Pontiac LeMans from relatives who visited the U.S., bought a car to drive around the country, and then sold it. The first new car my parents bought was a 1967-68 Mercury Cougar, which lasted through 1974, when my dad was run off the road.

Just like my parents planned a family, they also planned to be a two-car household for the first time just before I was born. The car they bought was a new 1972 Buick Estate Wagon. Mom drove around in that behemoth until I was six, as it was rear-ended at a downtown Wilmington stoplight that had had previous reports of malfunctions. The insurance company totaled it, though I don’t recall the damage being that bad.

The Buick was light green and lacked the woodgrain trim that most Estate Wagons seem to have. Having seen home movies with the car in them, I now know it had a dark green roof and poverty caps (possibly without trim rings!). Options I recall are air conditioning, AM/FM radio, the speed minder buzzer, cruise control, and third-row seats. I’d love to have a “clamshell” wagon again, and similar GM brands would not do!

Two years earlier, we had neighbors move in that happened to have family that owned a Pontiac dealership right across the bridge in Elmer, New Jersey. When Dr. Smith replaced his 1970 Challenger convertible with a 1977 Pontiac Bonneville Brougham with Rally II wheels (awesome for the wagon-wheel effect), I was in love. I pushed Mom to get a Pontiac, and I remember being at Union Park Pontiac sitting in the hottest car in America (Trans Am) while my parents wondered why they couldn’t get two-tone paint on the wagon they wanted. Sure, I remember going along for tests in wagon versions of the Chrysler LeBaron, Buick Century, Oldsmobile Cutlass, and possibly a Mercury Zephyr, but Mom settled on a 1979 Pontiac LeMans Safari painted in a burgundy that may have been Carmine. The interior was matching red vinyl, and I can remember being frustrated because my mom would not entertain the idea of ordering power windows, which meant that I was stuck with those goofy, difficult-to-open rear vent windows (not till later did I learn power windows only operated the vent window electrically and did not lower the main rear window). I recall the option list being similar to the Buick’s, plus full wheel discs. This is the car I learned to drive in while practicing in parking lots. Soon after I scored my driver’s license, my parents decided to change cars. 

While the Pontiac was in fine condition, I reckon it was around the six-figure mark on the odometer, so my parents began looking for something new. A Volvo wagon was an aspiration (and I lusted after a turbo wagon in red), but they couldn’t afford it. They settled on a Toyota Camry LE wagon, which I totally did not want, but who was I to argue? However, my dad (who was on a business trip to Rockville, Maryland) took home a loaded demo, then returned it the next day when he found damage to it, calling my mom to proceed with the Volvo and get the whole thing over with. It was a basic 740 GL wagon in gray with a tan leather interior. The main feature with this Swede was that it was built like a tank for reckless folks like me, and it is this car that I spent most of my youth abusing.

I don’t recall the circumstances, but my mom switched cars around 1995 while I was in college. It ended up being a Volvo 850 sedan demonstrator. I’m sure she missed the utility of the wagon, but it served her well without any kids to haul around in the Central Jersey digs that my family called home at the time. I know this was Volvo’s first front-wheel-drive vehicle for the U.S. market, setting the template for Volvos that would follow.

My mom replaced the 850 with a c.2000 Volvo V40 wagon. You don’t see those around anymore, but they were decently successful, especially when Volvo was the leading European import in America. While visiting her (now in Arizona), I drove it at length, even averaging over 90 mph from Phoenix to San Diego. My memory has lost the record of why she moved into a new car, but she did — to another Volvo.

The second-generation V50 was everything the V40 should have been, and it was sized right for Mom. Hers was a T5 AWD (maybe 2008?), perfect for Mom’s DC digs at the time. It was black with a tan leather interior and completely loaded. In some ways, it was the perfect car for her son when he was visiting: It was fast and it could handle any weather since my visits happened at all times on the calendar. I wish I could say otherwise, but this car was not kind to my mom: It didn’t stay together well. For the first time since the 1960s, my mom had some regret.

So, in 2016, she began looking for a new car. I misguidedly told her Volvo wagons were long in the tooth and that she should look elsewhere. I recall the Volkswagen Passat wagon, but I don’t remember what the deal was — I think it may have just been discontinued and no replacement was in sight. Meanwhile, Car and Driver magazine was waxing poetic on the redesigned BMW X1, newly front-wheel-drive and with a new injection of speed. Mom managed to avoid minivans and SUVs up to this point, but I told her this Bimmer was more like a wagon masquerading as an SUV. I will admit I feel guilty nudging her in that direction because she never felt right in this vehicle. To make matters worse, the kinds of problems she had with this car were unbecoming for something with the limited miles she had on the odometer. Today, I would be very leery owning a BMW. Customer service also let her down, so it is almost with some relief that she had an accident and the Bimmer was put out of its misery last year.

Now she drives my family’s old (2020) Volkswagen Tiguan. She’s familiar with it and, honestly, familiarity goes a long way for an older driver, but it isn’t the Volvo she still thinks about. I told her Volvo has discontinued its wagons, but it is me who shed a tear.

Happy Mother’s Day, Ma!