Zach lives with us, for lots of reasons, and he's a senior in high school. He doesn't ask for much, and we do what we can for him. He doesn't have a driver's license yet, but is in driver's ed He'll get his license next month after he completes the course.
The car in question is a 2004 Toyota Camry. It's fairly bare-bones, but was top-of-the-line in 2004. It has A/C, the heater works, it has a radio and a cassette tape deck. I wish that it had a standard 4-speed, but the transmission is automatic. He seems to like it.
Sometime around the 1st of the month, my insurance is going up.
4 comments:
Very nice! Much nicer than my first car!
A lot nicer than my first car too! I started with a 1963 VW Bug. It was missing most of both front floorboards due to rust, had an almost entirely non-existent heater/defroster (yes, in Michigan that means you drive with the ice scraper in one hand and steer with the other - while dealing with the manual shifting), no seat belts and a rope to hold the driver's door shut. Bought it across the state line from a guy who was selling it cheap ($35 in 1977) because it couldn't pass whatever kind of mandatory vehicle safety test Indiana had at the time. Yep - THAT's what my parents thought would be an ideal vehicle for their oldest child to drive around in - a rolling death-trap.
RE: "...my insurance is going up."
Didn't you get the memo? The new driver ALWAYS pays for their own insurance. How much you wish to enable the kid is up to you but I advise against it. I'm a bit sorry for butting in.
Rick
Here's to hoping the boy creates fond memories of his first ride.
Her name was Emmy Lou.
I bought my truck in exchange for a cord of wood I cut, split, delivered and stacked. $100 and a six pack of beer got me a new used engine installed. The floor board was aluminum road signs tack welded in place. The radiator had so many holes the least expensive repair was to plumb to a 5 gallon bucket sitting on the bench seat. The tail lights usually worked. The radio only got AM country stations.
Speeding down a mountain road I knew well, the hood flew open. I secured it with a straightened spring taken from under the seat. I learned to play cat and mouse with johnny law; if I got caught the deputy would run out of ink writing up the fixits.
In the 3 or four years I owned her, she cost me a new starter, new brakes with new master cylinder, entire new clutch, rebuilt tranny and I'm sure a few other things. When I say new, only seals and rings were store bought, the rest was picked from the local bone yard.
But I had much pride in her. Could be said, my first love. She climbed hills like a mountain goat. That granny gear was great for pulling stumps out of the ground or sledding boulders. She shook off anything thrown at her - like slipping into a ditch with 3 cords of wet Oak in the bed and cracking the rear axle. Drove her out of that one.
Rick
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