When Hubby and I met in 1995, he owned a 1981 Toyota Tercel that he had bought for $800. We drove that car around the college campus the whole time we were dating. The alternator went out on it several times, and we worked together to get it working again. I shouted and danced around our circle when we finally got it to work. I remember working on it in my parents garage in December, and we took a hairdryer into the garage to warm our numb fingers. Watching hubby work on his car was the first time I had ever seen anyone work on their own car. I had heard about people doing it, but everyone I knew just took their car to a mechanic when it broke down, but not my cute curly-haired boyfriend.
We had that car, that Hubby lovingly named "Betty," for about a month after we were married. The gas gauge didn't work, which made driving an adventure. Our method for changing the oil was rather easy. You wait for most of it to leak out, and then you fill it back up. She overheated very easily, and so when we took long trips, it always had to be overnight, so she could handle the heat.
Hubby went into the Army, and while he was in basic training, I moved back home, sans Betty. My dad was ready to replace his gold 1989 Honda Civic Hatchback, and so he sold it to us, even after I had called it an "old-man car." It was a 2 door hatchback, which made it tricky to get car seats in and out, but we became quite skilled at it. We were a one car family until we were getting ready for baby #3. At that time, we realized that there was no way we were going to be able to fit 3 car seats into the back of that car, and so in 2001 we went car shopping.
We went to the dealership, and tried to find a nice mini-van. All of the mini-vans were out of our price range, and they were unwilling to deal with us for a van, but for some reason, they were willing to drastically reduce the price of a beautiful white Dodge Durango that was only a year old with a VCR built in. That was a FUN car to drive! The only downside was the horrible gas mileage, but that car had a ton of power! Hubby often wanted to go off-roading in it, but I always made him drive conservatively, so our car would last forever.
One Sunday morning, six months after buying our car, we were heading to church. We left our condo to go find our car in our designated spot, but when we got to the parking lot, our car was gone. Someone had stolen it! (Quick plug for USAA! Best insurance company EVER!)
We started looking for a new car at a few different dealerships, and when they asked us what we wanted, we let them know we wanted the least steal-able car! We ended up finally buying a used 2001 Dodge Caravan. We were a two car family until 2004 when Hubby was broadsided by an illegal immigrant.
We still have our Caravan, and it has served us well. It is just shy of 100,000 miles, and it is finally starting to show it's age. We finally bought a second car (Hubby's car) last year, and so the van has become the Mom Taxi. In the last year, it has developed several fun sounds. We clunk, and squeal our way around the neighborhood. I actually ended up naming the sounds to preserve my sanity. When a chirping squeak shows up, we say "There's Chester." I like to think of our car as a musical car. It announces our arrival to everyone around. As I was picking up the kids from school this last week, we could clearly hear one of the middle school girls tell her friend, "That car is sooooo annoying!"
Well, this week, Hubby tackled our musical car. He took the day off of work and he replaced the brakes, and the belt, and changed the oil. He ran into obstacles every step of the way, and I think he is now on a first name basis with the cashier at Auto zone. He was absolutely filthy. We still have some work to do on the car in order for it to be completely ready, but my car is now squeal, chirp and clunk free.
Babe! Thanks for taking such good care of me!
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