“When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all in one Accord…” – Acts 2:1
“I do not speak of my own Accord…” – John 12:49
Yesterday evening, on the verge of falling asleep, I suddenly started thinking about all the different cars we have owned since Rebekah first hooked up with her used Chevy Chevette just before we were married.
Rebekah named her first car “Elmo”, after the garage owner who sold it to us. I was more inclined to call the powerless two-door “The Shove-it” – something we actually had to do after the stick-shift came off in my hand one afternoon in rush-hour traffic on Atlanta’s Memorial Drive back in 1981!
Elmo was followed up by a brand new Datsun B-310 hatchback, one of the best cars we have ever owned. Then in 1983 I spent $100 on a derelict Ford Courier pick-up to get me to classes at UWF. Since then we have consistently run two cars.
Other than the Datsun, I’d say the vehicles we loved most were the Honda Accord, the (3rd) Grand Caravan, the Hyundai Santa Fe, the Mazda pickup, my Hyundai Sonata, the Saturn Aura, and my current WW Golf.
I still remember Rebekah’s excitement when we realized we didn’t need a van anymore. That’s when she purchased her Santa Fe, a vehicle she loved and drove for 11 years.
None of the gallery below are my own photos, I Google searched make and model, then color when possible.
So here goes (11 of these were purchased new):
- Chevette; B-310;
- Courier;
- Cavalier wagon;
- Accord;
- Cavalier “coup”;
- Mazda Protege;
- the series of vans;
- Datsun “hardbody” pickup (I totaled it t-boned by semi!);
- Ford Ranger;
- Mazda pick-up;
- Santa Fe;
- Daewoo;
- Elantra;
- Sonata;
- Aura;
- Rav-4;
- Golf Tdi…
That adds up to 22 (and that’s not counting the vehicles Andrew and Naomi had when they were still at home. I don’t think I missed any.
Rebekah’s Santa Fe hung around the longest (it’s still in the family, being driven by a niece), and my Elantra lasted maybe three days before Naomi totaled it with a little over 200 miles on the clock (it may be some kind of a record)!
I do like cars, and the process of selecting a new one, but I’m praying our current two – the 2012 Rav-4 and the 2012 Golf – will last a good many more years.
In the meanwhile, enjoy this gallery… and please don’t judge our poor choices too harshly!
Peace and more peace – DEREK
Not sure but I think you might have me beat in the number of lifetime cars. I remember the incident with the stick shift coming out in your hand during a drive. That was a good one. Tom
Loved your story about the stick shift coming off in your hand. Our first car as newly-weds was a 1968 red VW Bug. We knew next to nothing about cars. Our first winter we had trouble getting the car started. The engine would try to turn over but it sounded like it was was shlogging thru mud. We discovered if we rolled the car into the street and started pushing down the hill, Chuck could jump in, pop the clutch and it would start. We operated that way every morning for quite awhile, until we mentioned what we were doing to my mechanic brother. He laughed and asked if we had changed the oil to the winter weight type. Of course, we answered, “Huh?” He laughed even more. But we soon had the oil changed to the appropriate type and then we had no more problems starting the car.
The story goes:
Person 1: If only I still had every car I’ve ever owned, I’d be rich!
Person 2: You’d have to be rich, already, to still have every car you ever owned. 😉
Thanks for sharing your stories, Derek, and keeping us rooted, properly! My challenging car story was a ’73 VW Squareback that had the feature of occasionally not starting after I drove it somewhere away from home base. Also had a ’64 Corvair (not Corvette!) with a non-functional gas gauge; had a few situations where my calculations were off just a bit, and I coasted into a gas station, or home. 😉
I assume some of those were ” stock” photos, the Ranger with the 5.0 on the side struck me as particularly odd as Ford never made one. We’ve been through our more than fair share of cars some good some bad, most have memories associated with them, like the 72 Pontiac La Mans I had to drive backwards through a heave snowstorm because I couldn’t get traction going forward, or the Aerostar I rigged up with a TV, VCR and 12v refrigerator for a family trip to Florida. Good Times!
That Aerostar sounds like a classic!! Yep – all “stock” pics – “None of the gallery below are my own photos, I Google searched make and model.”