When I went to Grinnell my parents gave me a 1996 Chevy Lumina to drive. Within months, the Lumina met an untimely end in the Burger King parking lot in Newton, IA. I felt sad, but quickly recovered when my dad presented me with a cherry 1990 Toyota Camry LE (that's the fancy version with the alloy wheels, power windows, and snazzy sunroof). He gave it to me in the Spring of 2002 and I have driven it ever since. Hot.
The beauty of 1990 Camry ownership when you are a broke student living on borrowed time and money is that it is the equivalent of taking a class in auto mechanics. I've learned the ins and outs of hearty Japanese construction and undertaken projects like changing every light bulb on the inside and outside of the car, touching up the paint, peeling the scraps of fire proof liner off of the inside of the hood, replacing the door handle (18 years of opening and one day it just snaps! how weird.), learning how to open the gas tank by shoving my hand through a tiny space in the trunk, twisting the sunroof shut so the air leak isn't so bad, crawling through the back door when the front ones freeze shut, and my favorite, negotiating the automatic seat belt so i don't get decapitated in an accident.
However, should the automatic seatbelt decapitate me I hope that Helgie gets possession of my head so she can put it on a broom handle so I can sit at her dinner table.
Look for my post graduation EBay auction of said Camry. We'll start the bidding at $18,000.
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