My first car (in 1989) was a 1976 WV Dasher (aka Passat). I learned how to replace coolant hoses and flat tires on that thing. Bought it for $800, insured it for less than $100/year, and it lasted for three years. It was a very solid little car, and I was sad when the transmission finally gave out.

My first car was a 1988 Mazda 626 family sedan. I wanted a VW bug.

Adds furniture and cars to the list of things the boys will get to choose themselves. They already get to choose hair, clothes, and food despite condemning looks from friends and family. The cool thing about kids choosing their hair and clothes is that I get to embarrass them with the photos in later years.

Poor son Brendon. He and his father stayed in Florida most of this summer so that dad could coach basketball and get the boys in shape for next season. First game, a month ago, Brendon fell in a game and injured his elbow. Just got another MRI a couple days ago, and still sidelined. DH has done a great job with the scrubs and they just won in playoffs against a team that goes to state every year. My son, may not even get to play his Junior year. This whole thing has been a huge commitment of time, emotion, and money for DH and it has to be killing him that his son can't even participate. My son, he is satisfied to be on the computer all day anyway, probably impeding his elbow from healing. Frustrated.

IOmememeN, just got back from the volunteer fire department rummage sale. Loot included a set of 12 wicker coasters, 4 wine glasses, muffin tins, and a 4' square wood game board set. $5 total. I gave them $10 and told them the other $5 was for the baked goods that I resisted.

First car - 64 Chevy that had been in a flood. Trunk held closed with a clothes hanger. The lot had sold it to me for $75, but I only gave them $50 because they never came up with the title. Had to keep a case of oil in the back seat for frequent additions. 2 years later I left it in a parking garage in downtown Norfolk when I moved to Richmond because I didn't think it would make it that far. Good times.

Timelies

I'm feeling snarly. My cats keep peeing where they aren't supposed to (although on things that seem somewhat easy to clean), my tri top has weird stains on it, and argh!

My first car was a Geo Prizm which I bought after college.

My first car was a 1980 Dodge Colt, which my parents bought for me. It was tiny but tough, a good car.

I didn't own a car while I lived in Philly, so I married into my next car, a '97 Ford Contour. The first car I had anything to do with picking myself was a '99 Mazda 626 we got when it was clear we really needed two cars to function. We ordered it online back in 2000 in the heady days of the dotcom boom from a now-defunct used car website, which delivered it straight to our door.

We still have both of those cars, but the Contour is showing its age, and it's always guzzled gas to a ridiculous degree for such a small car, so we're hoping to replace it by year's end.

First car was a 1977 electric blue Mercury Comet.

Natch, I called it the "Batmobile".

Drove that sucker into the ground.

First car was a hand-me-down from my mom (which *she* had bought used), a Pontiac T1000, which was pretty much the Chevette's bastard cousin.

Drove it from senior year of high school until Jake was two. A lonnnng time. Had no visors, a sprung passenger seat, and about a billion miles on it before it finally died a quiet death.

Speaking of cars, I'm happy to report that I can breath a little easier as it looks like all the damage to my rental car from my LA trip has been covered ($497). I've been sweating it out for 6 weeks as Enterprise immediately charged me a $500 deductible while I waited for Amex to resolve everything.

For future reference to potential buffista renters out there, I've never owned a car, but I rent fairly often. I have special liability insurance, but have relied on Amex coverage for any damage or theft. I've heard it can be a problem collecting on the coverage, but IME they were pretty good. I called them upon my return to report the damage, gave them my rental agreement number, and they handled the rest with Enterprise. They immediately put a dispute flag on the $500 charge so I didn't have to pay it upfront.

It took about six weeks to resolve, and initially they only paid the actual damage ($447) and not the $50 admin fee, but with a few phone calls, either they paid it or got Enterprise to waive it because it has just been credited to my account.

Now if only the city of Pasadena would give me a response about my parking ticket...

I just bought a 40" tv. Now trying to schedule a delivery time that doesn't require time off work.

~ma like crazy, ND