Vehicular History...
My vehicular autobiography.
1. "Purdy's Paint Peeler." I grew up learning how to drive on a 1989 Ford Ranger extended cab 4x4 with a 5 speed manual. My parents bought it new in 1989 and it was in the family for about 13 years. ______________________________________ 2. "Peej." April 1998 - December 2006. The spring of my junior year of high school (1998), my parents bought me a 1991 Jeep Cherokee Limited 4x4 (white) with just over 100,000 miles. In both the Ranger and the Cherokee, I had Pioneer CD player head units rigged up to two 15" Rockford Fosgate subwoofers. Silly teenager. I did save money by building the subwoofer box myself, which I still have. I do need a new amp, plus I don't think I'll be putting "the system" back into any of our current vehicles. I'm a "grown up" married man now... Who knows where the Peej is now: we donated him to a non-profit (our local NPR radio station, KPLU) and he was sold at auction for about $250. At least we were able to write off the actual value on our taxes. ______________________________________ 3. "Angus" June 2004 - August 1, 2008. In the summer of 2004, the wife and I were needing another vehicle that was going to get better gas milage than our 19 miles-per-gallon Jeep. After lots of research and looking for a good deal online, we landed a 2002 Chevy Cavalier coupe from (ironically) the Jeep dealer in Des Moines - Bud Mulcahy's. It was a great deal - below blue book value - and only had 30,000 miles on it. We wanted something that would make for a good economy car, and to date we have not had to put a great deal of money into it (knock on wood). Only regular maintenance parts like brakes, oil, oil filters, and air filters. We also have a Yakima rack (55" bars) that we put on the roof to haul bikes, skis, and a gear box as necessary. We have named the car Angus because it is a black Cavalier... a black cav... a black calf... You might have to be from the farm to understand this, but we think it is fun and it makes sense to us. ______________________________________ 4. "Ron." August 2006 - May 1, 2008. Ron D' Ridgeline is special and even has his own webpage. He should have all of said attention for the price we paid... I mean, are paying! We did lots of research and do not regret the investment so far. The Ridgeline is a great vehicle for us and our lifestyle. If it were a "perfect world," we would have it in a 6-speed manual (which is not offered) with a clean-diesel engine (which they do not yet make). We sold the Ridge on May 1 to a friend from church in preparation for our move to Lagos, Nigeria for international teaching positions. ______________________________________ 5. "Afro-Honda." September 2008 - May 2009. Our overpriced, shared, and maroon Honda Accord. First of all, the blue book value of the car is about $3,000 (yes, I had my computer out while we were "wheeling and dealing" with the local used car dealers). This is the price that would be fair in the U.S., but Nigeria is a different world. Modern goods are just more expensive here. So, we painfully paid 850,000 Naira, which is about $7,200. Now, normally we would write a check or set up a payment plan - but not in Nigeria! Cash only! We had to have money transferred from our account to the school. The school paid us in US dollars, then we had to call a money changer to come. We had to use the school bill counter (which looks like something out of a drug house in movie). We had piles of cash laying on the counter and proceeded to shove them into my backpack and head to the garage. In true mophia fashion, the bills were laid out on the hood of the car for the salesman to count. Then there was the issue of how the salesman was going to transport all this cash, as he was heading back home on an "okada" (what I like to call "a Chinese 100cc excuse of a motorcycle"), and had no bag! ______________________________________ 6. Angus (again). May 2009 - October 2010. Used this when we got back from Nigeria. A great car that we sold / traded when we bought our "B.A. Baracus" 1998 Dodge Ram - we actually sold the car to the guy we bought the Dodge Ram from. ______________________________________ 7. "Suki" 2009 Subaru Impreza WRX hatchback. July 2009 - April 3, 2020. ______________________________________ 8. "B.A. Baracus" 1998 Dodge Ram 2500 Cummins Turbo Diesel. October 2010 - July 11, 2014. ______________________________________ 9. "Amelia" 1974 Airstream Sovereign of the Road. January 2011 - July 11, 2014. ______________________________________ 10. "Silvia" 2007 Chevrolet Silverado 2500 LBZ Duramax diesel. August 16, 2014 - May 4, 2016. ______________________________________ 11. 1992 Caribou 9es truck camper. Found free, gave away free. September 24, 2014 - April 1, 2015. ______________________________________ 12. CampLite 28bhs travel trailer. September 2, 2015 - October 12, 2020. ______________________________________ 13. "Lexi" 2009 Lexus LX570 (200 series Toyota Land Cruiser). May 4, 2016 - current. ______________________________________ 14. "Veronica" 2012 Kawasaki Versys. October 2, 2017 - 11/06/2022. ______________________________________ 15. "Sydney" 2006 Chevrolet Silverado 3500 LBZ Duramax diesel dually. September 5, 2018 - for sale. ______________________________________ 16. "Foxy" 2012 Desert Fox 29sb. Travel trailer toy hauler. April 20, 2020 - current. ______________________________________ 17. "Jer" 1964 Ford Thunderbird Landau. October 26, 2020 - current. ______________________________________ 18. "___" 2020 Honda Africa Twin Adventure Sports DCT. September 1, 2022 - current. ______________________________________ 19. 2001 Arctic Fox 990 truck camper. October 21, 2023 - current. ______________________________________ 20. 2023 Ford f350 Super Duty high output PowerStroke long bed crew cab. . November 29, 2023 - current. [end] |
Other vehicles my immediate family had (or currently has) include:
|