Thursday Thirteen about cars

Kiplinger's Personal Finance (May 2006) says the average American household will buy a total of 13 vehicles. Seven are purchased after the head of the household turns 50. So that put me to counting. We've had more than 13, but here are what I'll call family cars--and that works out to 13:

1. We started married life in 1960 with a 1951 Oldsmobile 88. This car used to stall at intersections in Indianapolis and I'd get out and open the hood and jiggle something to get it going, occasionally with a push from the next guy in line. Just Married 1960, 1951 Oldsmobile
2. Dad said the tires were worth more than the car, so when the steering went bad we gave it to him (he'd bought the tires) and I think we just had a bicycle for awhile. Then we got a cute little used black Renault. I found a restored 98 Olds on the Internet for $75,000.

3. After the Renault we bought my mother's 1961 or 1962 blue Comet, which up to that time had been a perfect car, but then turned into a lemon. Don't buy automobiles from relatives.

4. Our first new car was a deep blue 1964 Volkswagen. It was on a cool fall morning the first week we owned it we discovered in Wisconsin that the heater wouldn't turn off--and the day became very warm as we returned to Illinois. I was pregnant--not a happy camper.

5. I promised I'd get a license if we got an automatic (hadn't driven since the Renault), so we bought a light blue Plymouth sedan that was about as plain and basic as a car could be. After we moved to Ohio, my brother came from Illinois and drove it back, and eventually it became my aunt and uncle's car for many years.
1965 Plymouth sedan, visiting in Indianapolis
6. It was replaced by our first (and only) luxury car, a 1969 4 dr. Oldsmobile (used) very dark green, almost black, purchased from my husband's employer--it had all the bells and whistles--even an 8 track tape deck, and we put two baby car seats comfortably in the back. The only photo I could find was lifting the Christmas tree out of the trunk.

7. Our little brown 1974 Ford Pinto was our first "second" car--lots of fun to drive.

8. A beige 1977 4 dr. Buick sedan replaced the Olds. When we were shopping, my husband wanted a sportier 2-door. I looked at our little guy and said, "The kids are going to be big some day, I think we should get a 4-door, because it will be hard to stuff them in the back seat." And I was right, because he was over 6' and our daughter was 5'8" by the time we traded it. This is the car in which our kids learned to drive and get into trouble even though it was a really boring sedan. "Our life is so beige," my daughter complained. (Also had a cream colored house and company car.)
Our 1977 Buick after a snow storm
9. In 1986 I replaced the 9 year old Buick with a 1983 (or maybe 1981) maroon Buick 4 dr. Skylark which had all the luxury options, plush unholstery, sound system, etc. Possibly the most comfortable sedan we ever had, but being a used car it had some mechanical problems.

10. Which gave me an excuse to buy my dream car--a 1987 red Mustang, which I had wanted lusted after since my brother bought one in 19631964 1/2. I had a tenure track job at the university and was wallowing in empty-nest grief--so I deserved some happiness, right? However, the night I drove it off the lot it rained buckets, and I discovered that the Mustang model had no gutter around the door frame so if you opened the door after a rain (and it rains a lot in Ohio), you got soaked as the water sheeted off the roof. I hated my dream car, and because it was low to the ground, it also just killed my back. Couldn't wait to unload it.
1987 Mustang in same location as the 1951 Olds photo. See how much the trees grew in 28 years

11. I fell in love with my Plymouth mini-van, white, used 1989, and never looked back. The seats are exactly right for me, and I've tried other vans and SUVs. I sold the Mustang to a lady in Worthington looking for something cute for her teen-agers to drive to school. I think a week or two later they wrecked it.

12. Traded the white van in 1994 for a 1995 green Dodge mini-van, which I drove until the air-conditioning died in the very hot summer of 2002 and we were expecting company. Its age and mileage didn't warrant the repair costs.

13. Traded the green van for my 2002 silver Dodge mini-van, which I still love.

We had several company-owned cars which we drove as a second car--a brown Audi, a cream color Ford Fiesta, a beige Nissan Sentra. A car for personal use is absolutely the best perk you can have because all we did was pay for the gas (tax laws may have changed, but you didn't report it as income). The Fiesta and the Sentra we eventually owned. Then when my husband started his own business in 1994, he leased 2 different Ford Contours (both a shade of beige), then bought a 2000 Ford Explorer which he still has.

During all these years, with the cars we owned, or drove as a company car, or leased, we've had only one accident. My husband rear ended someone in one of the Contours in the mid-90s--minor damage, but the high pitched squeal from the alarm damaged his hearing because he couldn't get out of the car and the air bag smacked him around a little. Still, not a bad record for two boring, beige people.

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