THE CAR THAT JUST WON'T DIE

Picture taken January 25, 2003; car had 242,500 miles on it then.

In May of 1993, when I was 30 years old, almost 31, I finally got something I had never owned before: a car. A brother in Christ by the name of Lekan Oguntoyinbo was tired of fixing his car, which had recently had a lot of problems, and had also said about me, "This brother really needs a car." I had borrowed literally over 70 different cars from people from church since moving to Columbus in 1984 (thankyou, thankyouverymuch). He said to me, "I will give you this car for a dollar, and if you don't have the dollar, I'll loan it to you, and forgive it after 5 years." (I had already turned down a free car from my sister three years earlier; quite frankly I don't think that would have lasted a year and I couldn't have afforded to maintain it.) After having a mechanic check it out, and estimate that it would last at least two years, I decided to take it. It had about 107,000 miles on it, and needed about $1,000 worth of work on it to get it up-and-running.

After my initial $1,001 or so investment in the car, in July of 1994, someone hit my car in the rear while getting on the highway, fortunately at very slow speed. Nevertheless, the car was "totaled", meaning that it would cost more to fix the car than it was worth after the damage. Insurance companies never pay more than the value of the car before the damage (someone correct me if this is wrong). I was not very happy, thinking that there goes my great deal. Then I found out that they paid me $1300 and allowed me to have my car back, which had a dent in the back and a hatch door that doesn't latch, but that's something I can live with. So I was ahead of the game pretty much.

1998 was a pretty bad year for repairs, maybe $1,700 or so, but all the other years maybe about $200-500. 30-35 MPG, very cheap insurance (liability only of course). This car has to be the cheapest car to have around for as far as it's gone of about any car anyone's ever known. (OK; there's probably someone who's done better, but not very many people!) And there's almost always a better-looking car around, so no one tries to steal it.

Tuesday, August 8, 2000, on my way back from work, I hit the:

Sometimes God provides by just giving us things. Sometimes He makes things last much longer than they "should". '88 Chevy Spectrums shouldn't last that long, but that kinda' thing never stops God. He always gives His people what they need. Not necessarily what they want, but what they need. Thanks God.

PS: It has A/C (that works!), and an AM-FM-tape player (that work) too.

Update, 8/24/2002: Around May/June 2002 the A/C did go out. It's not worth fixing at the moment, but may get fixed in March 2003 or so if the car appears to still be likely to be around for a while.