marilyns vette story...
In my early twenties all my friends and myself had two major payments each month, rent and car payment. At that age buying a house wasn't even on our radar so that left the monthly car payment. I made a decision to find a car I really liked & drive it till the wheels fell off. It took a few years until the 1966 Corvette Coupe arrived. Driving to work each morning took me past a car dealership and always glanced in their showroom windows. One morning there it was! After work I went in & asked to see the car, they even let me sit in it. Reality told me the $6,000 price tag was out of my range. During the next 3 years I kept looking, doing research & asking questions. I knew exactly what features I wanted on mine. One day at work a colleague said I had to come look at what Jack bought. In his parking space was a 1966 corvette! Didn't take me long to realize this one was special, it had all the features on my list. Power steering, windows & brakes, automatic and air conditioning. Took almost a month of badgering Jack, who happened to be my boss, to sell it to me for $3000. He finally said I could take possession on April 1st 1969. The specific date was because Jack wanted to drive the 66 Corvette on Route 66 all the way to Washington DC and back...just to say 'he did it'. I agreed with one exception. I wanted it on March 31st, not April 1st. I'm not superstitious, but no sense taking chances with something I planned to spend much of my life with. Mileage on 3/31/69 was 22,022. Paid it off in 18 months & not having a car payment gave me a "major" leg up in my life's finances. Has anyone ever calculated what they've spent on cars in their lifetime? Payments made, Down Payment, Gain(or lose) on trade-in or sale of at least 8 cars in 49 yrs. Here we both are in 2018, 49 yrs. later...