I missed that daily post, but I have to say my favorite automobile was a 1998 Saturn SL. I drove it for 26 years, kept it maintained, and would still have it if my shoulders and knees hadn’t gone bad. Unfortunately, I let my son have it, for a price, and he traded it in for a car he couldn’t afford which has been repo-ed so that he is currently on foot or dependent on rides to and from work.
The Saturn was the second car I got new. Other than a Plymouth Horizon, all of my previous cars have been used. In fact, my first car was a ‘52 Chevy, yellow and green, that I paid $50 for 1976. It was in one accident where I was turning left on a green and a car jumped the light and plowed into the passenger side. The door was bent, but the car only rocked. The guy’s front end was not so lucky. My car was still road worthy and the cops let me go. I drove it for a couple of years before giving it back to the friend I had purchased it from.
My second car was also yellow and green – a ‘63 Buick Special, for which I paid the grand sum of $100 to a neighbor of friends of mine, who had had the car for several years in the garage after her husband died. My friends had checked the car out as they were considering buying for a second car. It was too small for their needs.
It had been maintained in running condition in case the Widow wanted to use it, but she preferred to have her son take her where she needed to be. He persuaded her to let him sell it. It was an okay car with quite a bit of rust on the body that would chip off. It took us cross-country while hauling a trailer that probably out-weighed it. I know the headlights tended to point up at the sky at times during the trip. I owned that one for 4 years and several long trips, but without a trailer. The neighbors used to laugh at my ugly car, but it always started no matter the wind-chill, and usually only cost $40 to fix other than when I bought tires.
The next car was insisted upon by my then husband. He felt humiliated by the fact that I drove the crappy rusted car. His peers would always ask why I drove the car and his answer of ‘It’s hers and it runs,” was embarrassing to him. So we went to a dealer and he bought a ‘76 Buick, maroon in color. My poor green and yellow car died in the driveway of a broken heart and had to be towed away.
I got the crappy maroon Buick in the divorce. Yay, me! He didn’t realize that the title had both our names on it or he would have taken it and left me with no way to get into town except by bicycle. So after he bought his own car, I had him sign the Buick over to me. A year later, it self-destructed in the parking lot of the apartment building I was living in.
After the death of the Buick, I was reduced to shopping and going to work by bus. That was fine. I support public transportation. It was limiting not to be able to go places on my own schedule, but I made due. After working a couple of years and re-building my credit, I was able to get a car loan to purchase a new ‘86 Plymouth Horizon. I drove the car for twelve years.
In 1998, a friend of mine had his car blow up. Quite literally, turn the key, see flames, jump out, BOOM! He asked me to take him car shopping. It was interesting. Once the salesmen (yes, they were all men, not being sexist) heard me say I was just here with my friend, I ceased to exist. That is, until we went to the Saturn dealership.
My friend went off with the salesman when I said I would wait in the lobby, but one of the salesmen came over and said something like “while you’re waiting for your friend, let me tell you a bit about our cars.” He didn’t give me a sales pitch as such, but just pointed out the safety features and showed me the cut-away model.
The next day I went back and got the same salesman. I pointed out that my Plymouth Horizon was 12 years old and starting to fall apart. We talked about used cars on the lot and what I would pay per month. He then pointed out that I could lease a Saturn for 3 years and turn it in to lease another if I liked it. I took a test drive and the car fit me. I was only 5’2” at the time. I’m shorter now.
I liked the fit and the feel and wound up leasing the Saturn. My friend also bought a Saturn. I had the base model and he got one with a moon roof, leather seats, and some other features I can’t remember. It turned out we both got red with a grey interior. It caused a bit of confusion if we weren’t paying attention when parked near each other.
Now I have another used car with over 130,000 miles on it. But this one won’t have to last as long as the Saturn did. I figure I have another 5 or 6 years or so before old age slaps me really hard in face and says “don’t you dare get behind the wheel and drive off.” There’s a bus stop at the end of the block, just in case.
Sillytoes Crafts 