I remember my first car was a 1981 Toyota Tercel wagon. It was blue and pretty cool. I don't know if my like for wagons started with this vehicle or before this time, but the love of wagons has continued. While I don't remember too many adventures in this Tercel, I do recall Dad and I going to various car audio stores to find something we could do to get a nice stereo system in this car. Together, we replaced the stereo that was in there and we splurged and got some boxes for the back part of the car (in the wagon area). The previous radio only had front speakers. I don't know why Dad supported doing this. I know he loves music, but I'm sure he didn't really love the music I listened too - or how loud I listened to it. I remember the little tiny boxes that we put back there for some 5 inch speakers. I also remember being appalled at how much it cost to do this tiny upgrade. As I was hot-rodding around town in this little wagon, the speakers would bounce across the wagon part of the car. It seems like we ended up rigging something up to keep them in place after they came free from the wires a few times.
A few years later, I don't even recall why, I thought it was time for a change. We ended up getting white Chevy Nova. Not the big muscle car Nova like my friend John Stimpson had growing up, but a little passenger car. I recall wondering numerous times how Chevy had come to taking a muscle car down to this small, gas-friendly commuter-style car. A person could wonder multiple other things about what GM was doing with its vehicles, I think their crash in the 2007 showed that they really had no idea what they were doing either. Regardless, this little car was a grand upgrade and I loved it. As I grew an infatuation with, similar to the wagon infatuation, this car was a manual transmission (as a side note, so was the Tercel).
This car was kind of like a cat - it had multiple lives. It started out one night on a dark road with some loud music and changing the station while driving. My friend Tim Ashby and I were headed up to an event at the high school. I think it was a basketball game. We were driving just above the railroad tracks on a little back road that we usually took to avoid traffic, and get over the railroad tracks it they were open. I reached down to change the radio station and mid-sentence with Tim the car jolted 90 degrees to the right and stopped in the middle of the road. The car was still running and Tim and I were ok. There were headlights coming our direction, so we decided to get out of the way. I put the car in gear and tried to go, but it just revved up and sat there. After a few more tries, we decided to get out and see what had happened. Turns out that we snagged the side of a parked flat-bed trailer - the kind with the wheel well that sticks out a foot or two beyond the trailer bed. We just barely caught the wheel enough to slightly damage the fender of my car, but snap the axle in two.
It was this night that I learned a lot about my Dad. I knew he was always there for me, but Dad also has the patience of steel. Somehow we called Dad and he came right up. Who knows what he was in the middle of doing. He got on the scene and made sure Tim and I were ok. He took care of any formalities with the police and owner of the trailer. The way I remember it, he sent Tim and I on our way in his car and said we'd chat about it later. I don't recall even getting cited with a ticket for this accident. The trailer wasn't supposed to be parked on the road during this time of the year and it was posted, mostly for snow, so I believe if any citation was issued it went to the trailer owner. Seems like we were related to the owner, or our family had some kind of relationship with them, so Dad was reluctant to allow the insurance to do anything with this accident. Even though Dad had fronted the cost for this car that I just wrecked and caused damage to, he didn't hold it over my head. Instead this started a bonding adventure for Dad and I where I learned a lot about him.
First lesson learned, Dad valued people and relationships. He wasn't willing to mess with whatever relationship we had with these people over a little damage to a car. He knew that money didn't mean much, even though we lived on a tight budget.
Second lesson learned, Dad love me and worried about me. I don't recall any lectures or belittling of any kind after I wrecked Dad's car. He made sure I was ok and sent me on my way to do what I thought was important that night (the basketball game). He enabled me to continue on with whatever I was doing without making me feel bad or nervous about what was to come. This may be only in my mind, but I recall sitting down with Dad after this incident and talking about options of how to fix the problem. Dad didn't ever say anything that made me feel like I had messed up. He knew that I knew I had messed up and he took advantage of that situation to help me learn how to fix something I had messed up.
Third and many other lessons came from the next steps. We decided it was too expensive to fix this car, so we found another one - the exact same, but it was an automatic transmission. This car only lasted a little while and the transmission went out. So, Dad and I took on something that was totally outside of the box for us. We bought back the salvaged first Chevy Nova (with the manual transmission), took the body of the new Chevy Nova (with the automatic transmission that didn't work) and put them together to make Chevy Nova number three. I recall late nights in the garage with Bill Greenwald or Ben Meier (two car gurus in our neighborhood) figuring out how to put these two cars together. Dad and I spent numerous hours trying to figure stuff out, laying on the freezing cold garage floor, or just chatting about whatever was going on. I don't know how long it actually took us to do this. It might have only been a week or two, but I do recall learning a lot about my Dad. One more thing learned in this part of the endeavor was that Dad subscribed to the notion of "use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without." I'm so glad that Dad and I had this time together. The lessons learned from this single experience are unlimited. Dad is an amazing man. He is quiet and if you don't watch him or listen to the subtle things that he teaches, you'll miss it. I'm glad I have had so many opportunities to learn with and from him.
After Alisha took over the Nova while I was on my mission, I took over the Volkswagon Golf that Jason had bought after his mission, but left when he wen to Hawaii. I don't recall the financial arrangements of this car, but I'm sure Dad "helped" with this one. Dad and Mom always made it possible for the kids to have transportation. They enabled us to be free, but attached rules to the freedom. I also recall Mom and Dad working out the rules individually with each child. While one child might be financially responsible for something, another was responsible for something else. They knew that we each had different needs and they took the time to adapt to those needs.
I loved the Golf. I drove it for years until after graduating from college. I also put a great stereo system in this car. I hadn't lost my love for music and feeling the music. I recall coming home a few weeks after getting the new system in my car and having Mom come out and feel the music in my car. I don't think she was as impressed as I wanted her to be. I also attribute this decision in my life to my difficulty hearing now (at 33 years old).
After the Golf, I felt like I needed a grown up car to show that I was in a real job and could be responsible. I stepped into my dream car after looking for months at cars in my price range. I think there was a little bit of pride wrapped up in the decision to buy the Audi Allroad, but it was a beautiful car nonetheless and I loved how I felt driving it. It is amazing the change that occurs in driving such a high-end car. Yes, it was fast, beautiful, luxurious, and an Audi. Yes, people look at you differently when you drive an Audi. Yes, you feel different when driving an Audi. But, all of these feelings came from the notions of pride made up in my own mind. Luckily, I got past those feelings in a year or two. I realized I was spending a whole lot of money on a car and that it wasn't worth it. I realized I could have a nice, reliable car for half as much.
It took me a while to decide on a new car. The next car decision ended up being another bad one. I was wheeled and dealed into a lease. I was roped into spending less per month to have a new Honda Element - a car that I loved. It appealed to me because I wanted to have a lower car payment. I also liked having a newer car. I was caught up in getting a new car and I entered into what I thought was a three year lease at $300 per month. With all of the paperwork that you sign I didn't even notice that I was signing contracts that were in Spanish. I also didn't notice the 72 month lease instead of a 36 month lease. I didn't realize this until after Kelly and I were married and looking at when the lease was up. I was taken back by the difference and really mad. It was my fault for signing the contracts and trusting those dealing them out to me.
Kelly and I had to work to fix this lease issue. Somehow, thanks to some blessings and a great dealership and great credit we were able to trade in the Element, get out of the lease and purchase a new Honda Fit. This car was a great out for us on the poor lease decision I had made. Yet another wagon, just like the Golf, Audi and Element. This car was the most versatile vehicle I've ever had. We loved this car and would have ran it into the ground had we not been working on paying down debt and had a great opportunity placed in our laps. I had just finished my Master's program and we were faced with the $45k of debt to pay for it. We had managed to pay for about $20k of it while I was still in school. The rest was still there and we were tight on the budget. The school loan rate was at 7%, ridiculous for the amount of talk of encouraging people to pursue higher education. Mom and Dad came to the rescue again. We were able to take out a loan from them at the going rate of 4.25%, saving us thousands of dollars. Also, as Mom and Dad went on their mission they gifted us their Buick Century and we were able to sell the Honda Fit for a great price to pay down even more of our debt. We successfully paid of the $27k borrowed from Mom and Dad in just over a year - saving us even more in interest.
We've had some great experiences with our cars. We've been blessed as we've tried to recover from not-so-good decisions made.
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