An unforgettable ride

What kids, strapped into the backseats of their parents’ cars, gazing through the gaps between the front seats and watching the road ahead, don’t think how great it will be when they are in the driver’s seat? And not just any driver’s seat, but the seat of their very own car. The power of the machine in their control. The freedom to choose the destination. The total control over the stereo. It’s no wonder people’s memories of their first auto stay vivid, and the stories remain a thrill to be told. 

Lee and Deanette Snyder

Junkyard finds

In 1960, when he was 16 years old, Lee Snyder lived west of Minburn. He found a 1950 Studebaker Champion in a junkyard and brought it home in his dad’s dump truck and fixed it up. 

“It only cost $25 from the junkyard. Lee’s dad could repair almost anything,” Deanette Snyder, Lee’s wife, says. Lee shares it took about six months to fix up the car. 

The interior of the car was minimalistic, and the repair work was rudimentary. 

Lee and Deanette were high school sweethearts. They would often go riding in his Studebaker around town. The car had regular back seats, and they often had friends and family members ride along with them, including Deanette’s sister and her boyfriend. Lee entered it in Minburn’s Fourth of July parade in 1961, and each person in the parade was to receive 25 cents. 

“So, nine of us piled into the car,” Deanette laughs. “To have a car like that to drive to school at 16 years old back then was a big deal.”

Source: Adel Living, January 2025; by Rachel Harrington

Melissa McNulty

Muscle car gal 

Melissa McNulty wanted a cute Volkswagen or fun little car when she turned 16 in 1995. Instead, her dad was living his dream, and she ended up with a 1977 Chevy Nova.

“It was a tank, and it got like 8-9 miles per gallon,” she says. “Luckily gas was $0.99 then. We’d go do donuts in the school parking lot on snow days. I hit a street sign once when it was icy and knocked it over, and my car didn’t have a scratch on it.”

She remembers once she was out driving around with six people in the front bench seat and got pulled over. 

“I was driving with my head out the window because it was so crowded. When the trooper was asking everyone to get out, it was like a clown car; kids just kept getting out,” she jokes.

It might not have been her dream car, but McNulty and her friends made the most of it. For her senior pictures, the gang dressed up in 1970s clothes and posed like it was broken down, because it always was needing something. Luckily, her friend’s dad was a mechanic.

Source: Ankeny Living, January 2025; by Ashley Rullestad

Rick and Donna Bussanmas

A special surprise

“Donna didn’t have any vehicle then, and she was working at Mercy Hospital at the time,” Rick shares. “We had both just graduated from DMACC, and I knew she was going to need a way to get to work when we were married. I bought a little Chevy Vega. I surprised her with the car. She didn’t know it was coming, so she showed up one day and found it where I had hidden it in her parents’ garage. I don’t recall what she said to me when she found out it was from me, but I’m sure she cried.”

Rick says his family had always been Chevy owners, and that is why he chose the car he did. 

“I already had a car myself, but Donna didn’t have anything. The Vega was the first car I ever bought myself,” he shares. “I got it brand new from Bob Brown Chevrolet from a local car salesman, Jack Lane, who worked there. He was ‘old Norwalk’ and had lived here forever.” 

Source: Norwalk Living, January 2025; by Rachel Harrington

Erik Sherrie

Jeeps, classic cars and racing

Erik’s first car was a 1948 Jeep — a CJ-2A, known as a Willy. He bought the flat-fender Jeep at age 15. 

Throughout the early years, he drove a variety of cars include a greenish-yellow 1972 Impala. He bought another Jeep, which had a Levi’s denim interior including button-fly metal snaps. 

“I took the top off, and the sun would get on the rivets. When I sat down on the metal rivets, it would burn a hole in my leg,” he recalls. 

Erik and his buddies often took the Jeep off-roading along the Raccoon River. 

“We were teens and did what teens do: drive around and get into trouble,” he says.

Since then, he’s owned six different Jeeps. He’s raced numerous cars and is partial to classic cars, including his current Corvette. The whole family shares his love of cars.

All of the cars he’s owned aren’t considered exotic, but they’ve provided an important aspect to his life. 

“Cars don’t love you back, but the memories do,” Erik reflects. ♦

Source: Jordan Creek Living, January 2025; by Jackie Wilson