Cars
I've never been a big "car person." Some people LOVE cars, love driving them, fixing them, learning about them, talking about them, etc... not me. Growing up in the place and time that I did, cars have been an important part of our culture, but for the most part I've never given too much thought to what I was driving, as long as it got me from point A to point B. However, I do appreciate a nice car and at times in my life I've been pretty happy with my wheels. I recently made a major purchase and bought a new (to me) car, a bright red Kia Soul +! It got me thinking about all my past cars and what they have meant to me. I want to say right off the bat that I am grateful that I can even say I've been able to drive and own a car since I was in high school, which truly is a blessing. And thank you to my parents, who have gone WAY above and beyond in helping me with the costs of the vehicles over the years. Without further ado, here are the cars I've called my own.
My first car, like many people's, was a hand-me-down. It wasn't even technically "my" car, it was really my mom's, but for all intents and purposes, it became mine when I was a freshman in high school and got my drivers license (on the third try). I had started that year riding the bus to school, across town from my family's new home in Hays, Kansas. Riding the bus to high school was a pretty humiliating experience, as there weren't very many kids who had to do it. Most either had their own cars, rode with friends or parents, or even walked. We lived WAY on the other side of town, my parents were both busy working and left earlier in the morning than I did, and I hated riding the bus, so eventually it was decided that I would get my license and drive the Subaru to school. I don't remember much about the car, including the year or the model, we just always referred to it as "the Subaru." Subarus were not common in Kansas, this particular one had a problem with a wonky suspension thing, and the fact that my mom had put hot pink windshield wipers on it (my dad's truck had neon green), meant that I was less than thrilled with it, but at least it was a car! Shortly after I started driving it, I had my first car accident as I was leaving 12th Street Auditorium after rehearsal for our high school musical, A Chorus Line. I pulled out into the street and a car I didn't see sideswiped me. Possibly to teach me a lesson, or more probably due to our family's financial situation at the time, any insurance money that may have been received was not used to repair the car. So, that left me with a dented up drivers side front fender, in addition to the perpetually lower passenger side due to the suspension issue (leading to lots of "fat" jokes about my girlfriend at the time, ha ha ha). Let's just say, I couldn't have been happier to finally get rid of that car!
Ah, the black Probe of the night! This was more like it! I had finally convinced my parents to let me get a new(er) car, and I agreed to get a job and take on a monthly payment if I could pick a car I really liked. I think we agreed on a $7,000 price limit. After looking around at almost every used car lot in town, I came across this awesome car at Kohler Autos on 8th street. It was all black, including the windows which were tinted so dark you couldn't even see into the car through most of them. It had a sunroof and a CD player and to me seemed really futuristic. One problem it had was a weird issue with the breaks, which seemed to vibrate a little when you put your foot on the break pedal. I was supposed to get this looked at right after I bought it, but of course I was much too consumed with driving it around to bother. I got it right before my senior year in high school started, and I must say it greatly improved my image at school, as well as my confidence. Also, we had a foreign exchange student from Mexico living with us at that time and we liked to go out a lot, which I hadn't done much of before. He also was the inspiration behind the car's Spanish nickname. It was a great car for awhile, despite some mechanical issues here and there. However, I did not take very good care of it and it deteriorated quite a bit by the time I was nearly finished with college. I remember when I watched the odometer go past 100,000 and how sad it made me. I spilled bleach in the back seat which ate through the upholstery, and the issue with the breaks never got any better. But, I had some great times in that car, and it saw me through several moves throughout college. The tinting, turns out, was completely illegal, and my brother got pulled over while driving us home from somewhere and we ended up having to remove it.
This car was probably the quickest love to hate transition I ever had with a car. By the time I was about to graduate college, I had really grown to loathe the Probe, mainly due to my own carelessness with maintenance. So when my parents offered to give me their Cirrus as a graduation present, I was completely thrilled. First of all, it had leather seats and a 5 disc CD changer, so I thought it was pretty cool! It was a nice green color and much newer and nicer than the Probe. They gave it to me right before spring break 2000 so me, Brandon, and our friend Courtney took it and drove all the way to the Gulf of Mexico right off the bat. Just a couple months later, I packed it up with almost everything I owned and moved out to Los Angeles. However, the HELL of a commute that I endured daily from Winnetka to Culver City, via the 101 and 405, put a lot of strain on the poor car. I had two MAJOR catastrophic break downs with this car. It was enormously expensive to fix both times, and the second time it happened, the mechanic flat out told me he never wanted to see it in his shop again. I honestly don't know why I kept it after the second time. My second "job" in LA involved a ton of driving, which really just did it in. Plus, I was, once again, horribly neglectful at taking care of it. I hit a parked car and couldn't afford to fix the damage (I had to pay to fix the other car). Someone broke in to steal my CD's and I didn't bother getting a new window. So, by the time the car crapped out on Beverly Boulevard a block from my apartment at the time, I said screw it and immediately called a salvage company to come pick it up. They gave me $300 for it. I couldn't have been happier to get rid of it.
For awhile after the Cirrus crapped out, I just didn't have a car at all. I was working about a mile or two from where I lived so I really didn't feel I needed a car. My partner, Dylan, and I had been living in Koreatown together for awhile so we were right in the middle of the city and had easy access to the subway, plus Dylan had a car... until his quit working also. At the beginning of 2005, neither of us had a car, our apartment building seemed to be falling apart and being taken over by a gang, and water started seeping in through the walls due to major rain that LA was experiencing. We had to get out and fast. I remember renting a car for a couple of occasions. Luckily, things at work were going well, and my job gave me a nice bonus after a bunch of stuff had gone down and my boss ended up leaving, but before she left she told them they should give me money so I could by a car. I really didn't want to use the money for a down payment because I didn't want to be saddled with monthly car payments. So instead I went on Craiglist and tried to find the cheapest car I could buy outright. I don't know why I settled on this car, from a drunk guy who couldn't even stop eating his hamburger on a plate while I test drove it. It turned out the car hadn't even been his, he must have got it from an auction or something, as all the belongings left in it clearly had been from an African-American female. Kinda weird... But I guess I thought it was a cute little car. The stereo, he told me, was "locked," but all I would have to do was go to a Saturn dealer to have it unlocked, which turned out to be a big lie. I never could get it unlocked, but a neighbor was nice enough to give me their old car stereo which I installed only to realized the wiring was all messed up. I got it to work out of the two front speakers until someone decided to break in and steal it. Someone else knocked my side mirror off, and another a-hole did a straight-up hit and run on the passenger side as I was coming home from work one day. I only had one major mechanical issue with it, and I did have to replace the drivers side door after the window stopped rolling up or down. Also, towards the end it was kind of erratic and often just died at intersections. I ended up giving it to my brother, who at the time didn't have a car at all, but I felt a lot of anxiety, worrying that something bad might happen while he was driving it (luckily it was fine and he ended up getting a better car soon after). However, starting with this car, I did finally learn how to maintain a vehicle, as I did all the oil changes necessary and made any other repairs or upgrades as needed to keep it running as good as possible. Considering how little I paid for it, it actually was a decent little car.
As embarrassing as it was to be over 30 years old and still getting a hand-me-down car from my parents, I wasn't in much of a position to be choosy. My mom was getting a new car (a hybrid) and mentioned that they might just give me their Avalon. At first I was too proud to accept, but after thinking about it (and driving the Saturn around a bit more), I realized I really did need a better car. The Avalon had been a great car for my parents, it had leather seats (heated!), and was the only "luxury" car I had ever owned. It ran really smooth compared to any car I had owned before also. But, it was a really bland gold/champagne/sand color. I loved it at first but the shine wore off pretty quick. Buttons started falling off the dash, the tape player never worked (not that I cared about tapes, but it was the only way I could hook up an iPod or MP3 player), and it just didn't look like "me." Then in 2011 I was in a minor accident - totally the other person's fault legally, and it messed up the front driver's side fender and bumper, which I had to reattach with some wire. You can only drive around for so long with a wrecked car before you just start hating it. Also, when my parents were visiting and rode in it, my dad pointed out that the suspension was totally wrecked, and I really did not want to spend a ton of money to get that fixed. By the time I got rid of it, it had over 161,000 miles on it!
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I'm obviously still in the honeymoon phase, but I just could not be happier with my Kia Soul! It's definitely the "newest" car I've ever owned (age at purchase), with the least amount of miles on it! I even debated leasing a brand new model, but this one looked almost new and was a price I could afford and I just fell in love with it. The leap in technology from the Avalon is astounding. It has bluetooth, so I can make a phone call without even taking my hands off the steering wheel. I can play iTunes or Spotify from my phone on the stereo, or play files from a USB stick. The Soul is sort of like a very compact SUV, so there is plenty of room in the back if I need to haul band equipment. It can comfortably transport 4-5 people which is great too for trips with friends. And it just looks like MY style!!! I can't wait for our first road trip.
What has been your favorite car? What car did you just HATE having to drive? Leave me your comments!
THE SUBARU, 1992-1994
Here's my mom walking towards the Subaru as my dad is filling it up with gas.
Yes, we lived on a farm and had our own gas tank!
This pic is from before I was old enough to drive and it was my mom's car.
'89 FORD PROBE, "El Probe Negro de la Noche," 1994-2000
The Probe, parked outside Bionic Burger in Hays, where it was so often parked.
My job at Bionic Burger paid for a lot of that car. This photo was taken sometime after the
window tinting had been removed.
The dashboard of the Probe. It had a "trip computer" with a sliding cover... the height of technology!
Ah, the black Probe of the night! This was more like it! I had finally convinced my parents to let me get a new(er) car, and I agreed to get a job and take on a monthly payment if I could pick a car I really liked. I think we agreed on a $7,000 price limit. After looking around at almost every used car lot in town, I came across this awesome car at Kohler Autos on 8th street. It was all black, including the windows which were tinted so dark you couldn't even see into the car through most of them. It had a sunroof and a CD player and to me seemed really futuristic. One problem it had was a weird issue with the breaks, which seemed to vibrate a little when you put your foot on the break pedal. I was supposed to get this looked at right after I bought it, but of course I was much too consumed with driving it around to bother. I got it right before my senior year in high school started, and I must say it greatly improved my image at school, as well as my confidence. Also, we had a foreign exchange student from Mexico living with us at that time and we liked to go out a lot, which I hadn't done much of before. He also was the inspiration behind the car's Spanish nickname. It was a great car for awhile, despite some mechanical issues here and there. However, I did not take very good care of it and it deteriorated quite a bit by the time I was nearly finished with college. I remember when I watched the odometer go past 100,000 and how sad it made me. I spilled bleach in the back seat which ate through the upholstery, and the issue with the breaks never got any better. But, I had some great times in that car, and it saw me through several moves throughout college. The tinting, turns out, was completely illegal, and my brother got pulled over while driving us home from somewhere and we ended up having to remove it.
This picture makes me pretty happy. At the time, it was my dream car... parked in front of my dream house.
This is where we lived my junior and senior year in high school.
At the right is our orange Chevy Luv pickup, which had been in our family for years,
having been passed down and around several times. I "luved" it!
Driving the Probe on I-70 between Hays and Russell.
CHRYSLER CIRRUS, "Bertha," 2000-2004
The Cirrus, at right, parked outside my first home in Los Angeles.
My brother and I shared a studio apartment in this condo building in Winnetka in the west valley.
This car was probably the quickest love to hate transition I ever had with a car. By the time I was about to graduate college, I had really grown to loathe the Probe, mainly due to my own carelessness with maintenance. So when my parents offered to give me their Cirrus as a graduation present, I was completely thrilled. First of all, it had leather seats and a 5 disc CD changer, so I thought it was pretty cool! It was a nice green color and much newer and nicer than the Probe. They gave it to me right before spring break 2000 so me, Brandon, and our friend Courtney took it and drove all the way to the Gulf of Mexico right off the bat. Just a couple months later, I packed it up with almost everything I owned and moved out to Los Angeles. However, the HELL of a commute that I endured daily from Winnetka to Culver City, via the 101 and 405, put a lot of strain on the poor car. I had two MAJOR catastrophic break downs with this car. It was enormously expensive to fix both times, and the second time it happened, the mechanic flat out told me he never wanted to see it in his shop again. I honestly don't know why I kept it after the second time. My second "job" in LA involved a ton of driving, which really just did it in. Plus, I was, once again, horribly neglectful at taking care of it. I hit a parked car and couldn't afford to fix the damage (I had to pay to fix the other car). Someone broke in to steal my CD's and I didn't bother getting a new window. So, by the time the car crapped out on Beverly Boulevard a block from my apartment at the time, I said screw it and immediately called a salvage company to come pick it up. They gave me $300 for it. I couldn't have been happier to get rid of it.
Here I am showing off my brand new California plates!
SATURN SL2, "Eartha," 2005-2008
The Saturn, parked on Romaine Street across from my current home.
For awhile after the Cirrus crapped out, I just didn't have a car at all. I was working about a mile or two from where I lived so I really didn't feel I needed a car. My partner, Dylan, and I had been living in Koreatown together for awhile so we were right in the middle of the city and had easy access to the subway, plus Dylan had a car... until his quit working also. At the beginning of 2005, neither of us had a car, our apartment building seemed to be falling apart and being taken over by a gang, and water started seeping in through the walls due to major rain that LA was experiencing. We had to get out and fast. I remember renting a car for a couple of occasions. Luckily, things at work were going well, and my job gave me a nice bonus after a bunch of stuff had gone down and my boss ended up leaving, but before she left she told them they should give me money so I could by a car. I really didn't want to use the money for a down payment because I didn't want to be saddled with monthly car payments. So instead I went on Craiglist and tried to find the cheapest car I could buy outright. I don't know why I settled on this car, from a drunk guy who couldn't even stop eating his hamburger on a plate while I test drove it. It turned out the car hadn't even been his, he must have got it from an auction or something, as all the belongings left in it clearly had been from an African-American female. Kinda weird... But I guess I thought it was a cute little car. The stereo, he told me, was "locked," but all I would have to do was go to a Saturn dealer to have it unlocked, which turned out to be a big lie. I never could get it unlocked, but a neighbor was nice enough to give me their old car stereo which I installed only to realized the wiring was all messed up. I got it to work out of the two front speakers until someone decided to break in and steal it. Someone else knocked my side mirror off, and another a-hole did a straight-up hit and run on the passenger side as I was coming home from work one day. I only had one major mechanical issue with it, and I did have to replace the drivers side door after the window stopped rolling up or down. Also, towards the end it was kind of erratic and often just died at intersections. I ended up giving it to my brother, who at the time didn't have a car at all, but I felt a lot of anxiety, worrying that something bad might happen while he was driving it (luckily it was fine and he ended up getting a better car soon after). However, starting with this car, I did finally learn how to maintain a vehicle, as I did all the oil changes necessary and made any other repairs or upgrades as needed to keep it running as good as possible. Considering how little I paid for it, it actually was a decent little car.
'99 TOYOTA AVALON XL 2008-2013
Believe it or not, this is the one car I didn't ever take a photo of, but this one looks pretty close.
However, mine did not have a sunroof.
As embarrassing as it was to be over 30 years old and still getting a hand-me-down car from my parents, I wasn't in much of a position to be choosy. My mom was getting a new car (a hybrid) and mentioned that they might just give me their Avalon. At first I was too proud to accept, but after thinking about it (and driving the Saturn around a bit more), I realized I really did need a better car. The Avalon had been a great car for my parents, it had leather seats (heated!), and was the only "luxury" car I had ever owned. It ran really smooth compared to any car I had owned before also. But, it was a really bland gold/champagne/sand color. I loved it at first but the shine wore off pretty quick. Buttons started falling off the dash, the tape player never worked (not that I cared about tapes, but it was the only way I could hook up an iPod or MP3 player), and it just didn't look like "me." Then in 2011 I was in a minor accident - totally the other person's fault legally, and it messed up the front driver's side fender and bumper, which I had to reattach with some wire. You can only drive around for so long with a wrecked car before you just start hating it. Also, when my parents were visiting and rode in it, my dad pointed out that the suspension was totally wrecked, and I really did not want to spend a ton of money to get that fixed. By the time I got rid of it, it had over 161,000 miles on it!
'11 KIA SOUL 2013 -
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The Soul, parked in front of our apartment building on the day I bought it. (April 6, 2013)
I'm obviously still in the honeymoon phase, but I just could not be happier with my Kia Soul! It's definitely the "newest" car I've ever owned (age at purchase), with the least amount of miles on it! I even debated leasing a brand new model, but this one looked almost new and was a price I could afford and I just fell in love with it. The leap in technology from the Avalon is astounding. It has bluetooth, so I can make a phone call without even taking my hands off the steering wheel. I can play iTunes or Spotify from my phone on the stereo, or play files from a USB stick. The Soul is sort of like a very compact SUV, so there is plenty of room in the back if I need to haul band equipment. It can comfortably transport 4-5 people which is great too for trips with friends. And it just looks like MY style!!! I can't wait for our first road trip.
What has been your favorite car? What car did you just HATE having to drive? Leave me your comments!
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