The Worst Car I Ever Owned

When I was in high school, I bought my fist car. It was as old as I was but man, it was beautiful. Baby Blue was a metallic blue 1976 Buick Century. She had white leather interior and I could fit about 19 people in it. With only one owner and 64,000 original miles, Baby Blue was in mint condition given her age. AndI got her at a steal. $650. I loved that car.

Due to an unfortunate accident one evening where I hydroplaned while trying to avoid crushing a Honda that turned in front of me into my lane, I hit a guardrail. There was hardly any body damage at all but I had bent the frame on Baby Blue and busted the cam shaft. The cam shaft could be fixed, but the frame, not so much. It was a very sad day giving up that car.

So, I set off to find a new car. My dad found me another Buick for $250. Man, another great deal. This one was about 10 years newer and has to be a great car, I mean after all, look at Baby Blue.

I don't even think the scrap was worth $250.

To start with, the heat didn't work. And even though I live in Texas, it gets pretty cold. At least to a Southerner live me. To add insult to injury, the windows were off track and wouldn't stay up. No matter how many times I took the door apart and put them back on track, they just wouldn't stay up. So, my dad helped me put wooden shivs in the windows to help them stay up. Even at that, they still fell down about 4 inches. But that's okay. the radio still worked.
At least until it rained inside the car.

Bright side? The car runs. It gets me from point A to point B. That's all you really need right? I was 17. All I needed to do was to get back and forth from school and work. Riiighhht. So my car shakes when I drive it. That's okay, right? I mean, it is an older car.

Then, everything started going wrong. The windshield wipers went out. Then the battery, the water pump, the alternator, the radiator. Sigh. It was going to cost more to fix it than it did to buy it. Apparently, when I bought the car it was already on life support. Within a week, it started acting like we had pulled the plug and all of it's major organs were shutting down. I think it was already telling it's loved ones goodbye and dreaming of that great junkyard in the sky where it would feel no more pain.

After only two weeks, my new car had officially given up the ghost.

I think it was cheaper for the 6 months of bus passes that followed.