ten on Tuesday

Today's topic: ten cars I have had. I've only had 8, and I've owned cars for 48 years. Unusual, yes? Here we go -------------->

1. 1963 Saab - it had a 3-cycle, 2-stroke engine that required a can of oil poured into the gas tank for each tank of gas. Gas station attendants said "you're crazy, lady!" and refused to pour oil into the tank, so I had to do it myself. I failed my first road test in this car because it had a bizarre feature called "freewheeling" that the inspector didn't understand: you didn't have to use the clutch to downshift. "You're crazy, lady!" said the inspector, thinking the transmission was going to fly out of the car.  

2. 1963 grey VW Beetle, which I called "the elephant" because it was grey and had a trunk up front. The wheel wells rusted out, so after a rain, I had a sloshing puddle in the back. Also had a huge ant colony under the battery. By the time I had to let it go, there was little left but parts of doors and a steering wheel.  

3. 1966 (I think) VW Fastback. Oy vey. One of the first cars to have a **com-pu-ter** in the engine. It should not have had  a **com-pu-ter** in the engine because it never, ever worked right. This car was puzzling to some repair guys because it had two trunks: you had to disassemble the back trunk to find the engine. By the end of my ownership, the car got about 150 miles per gallon because the blasted thing was towed everywhere. 

4. 1980 Toyota Tercel. Engine cracked at 72,000 miles. 

5. 1980-something Pontiac Sunbird, which I purchased by going to a used-car dealer and saying, "what can I have for $179 a month?" I drove it the length of 2 parking spaces, and said "ok." I loved this car madly, and I was very, very sad when I skidded into a tree and destroyed it.

6. 1980-something Nissan Sentra, baby-blue, used, a disaster. Total, total disaster.

7. 1993 Subaru Loyale, 4-door sedan. I will never love another car this much. It fit me perfectly, behaved admirably, and I'd still be driving it if I could have gotten the a/c fixed.

8. 2005 Toyota Corolla, 4-door, cactus green. It's a good, sturdy car, it gives me almost no trouble, and it basically does what a car should do: it gets me where I need to go. Really, that's all I ask.


Pretty dull history, eh?