This is the kind of car I will be taking with me when I go away to school.

That's amazingly fortunate timing... and placing.

As for BV's bike, I recall that distinctive V-shaped engine as being a characteristic of Harleys. I'm not an expert though. Never had a bike myself.

Most kids in this country would find that statement amazing. Running a car while still at school is pretty rare, unless the parents are paying for it.

I guess in Canada and the US it's a lot more common owing to cheaper running costs and much greater distances.

This is funnier still because she's named after the Biblical Maria. Just sayin'.

My last car was named Magdalena (Maggie for short). She was a lot more troublesome.

Actually, a lot of kids I know just take the bus to whatever school they go to. I think I'm one of the few kids in my grade that will have a car. But hey, why not? My parents have another car, and parking is cheap at the university I'm going to. It's also a fair distance away.

Heh.

This is way off topic, but what university did you settle on?

PM'ed.

My state is 3 times as big as your entire country. So yeah, cars are kinda necessary.

Anyway, my old clunkers:
The stately 1995 Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera. It got T-Boned by an unlicensed and uninsured immigrant. Bleh. That was not a fun night.



My mom and I then shared a 1990 Ford Ranger for a while.


Then I returned to '95 with a Ford Taurus. It's had to have the transmission repaired twice now. It's currently my mom's car.


And now, my current ride is my first new car. '10 Toyota Camry that just got paid off. Hopefully I can drive the wheels off.

16-19

My first car! A 1986 Ford F-150 4x2 with a measly V6, beat senseless from years of hobby farm work. Given to me by my grandfather in 1992 with 95,000 miles on it. The Black Bomber is still owned by my dad. I drove it just last week, and it remains my second-favorite vehicle ever. Ah, the memories. My first real independence, my first real date, my first... yeah, I love that ol' truck.



19-20

My dad picked this 1993 Taurus up from a fleet sale while I was still going to school. The Black Bomber just wasn't reliable enough to make the 170 mile drive back and forth from Penn State. Had my first real accident in this car, a bad sideswipe with a downhill guardrail in a serious blizzard. Not my favorite car, but beggars can't be choosers and the Taurus was a trooper. When I leased my first car on my own dime (below), I gave Timmy to my sister. He was her workhorse for years and years.



20-22

During my engineering internships I got pretty big for my britches and wanted a cooler ride than the Taurus. So I took a two-year lease on a brand spanking new 1997 Jeep Cherokee Sport. Man did I love that ride. Great in the snow, aesthetically pleasing, and perfect for camping.



22-27

The Cherokee plus apartment payments put a serious strain on my fledgling bank account. My next ride was a 1993 Chrysler New Yorker. I inherited the car when my grandfather passed away. It's about the least sexy car you can drive in college, but my last college girlfriend did say it had super-comfortable seats. They were that velvet knockoff crap. Made your ass sweat something terrible in the Pennsylvania summer heat. But a free car is a great car, and I kept this ride for a while after I got a real engineering job and moved to Colorado...



27-present

...but of course, every action has an equal and opposite reaction. And my opposite reaction was a rally red 1999 Chevy Camaro with T-tops. It has a monster 5.7 liter V8 engine--the same LS1 model from the prior generation Corvette--coupled to a six-speed manual transmission. I didn't even know how to drive stick when I bought this car, but come hell or high water I wasn't going to get a real sports car with an automatic transmission. Every day I would get a driving lesson in the parking lot from my buddy Dave, and then drive the Gray Goose home. God did the guys mock me about that, which provided plenty of motivation. When I could finally drive Morpheus with confidence, I donated the Gray Goose to charity. If I have my way, I will never own another automatic transmission for the rest of my life. Morpheus is my favorite ride ever, and spectacular fun on the mountain roads, with the T-tops out and the engine roaring. Gets 27 mpg on the highway, too (theoretically it gets 30 mpg highway, but not the way I drive).