Best investment I ever made

Back in 2006 I was working for a Ford dealership after I had gotten off the road as a full time musician.  A lady came in and wanted me to take a look at her car as there were a few pieces on the ground and she

didn't want to move it.  She was local so I stopped by and found a 1995 Red Ford Taurus with a broken front spring.  I towed it back to the shop and gave her the estimate to fix the spring which was now out of warranty.  She did not want to spend the money on a car with 165,000 miles on it, so she offered to sell the car. I bought the car and pulled the records at the shop and saw that she maintained oil changes and all the maintenance so I was comfortable paying what she asked. She sold it to me for $100.00.  I fixed the springs which cost about 200 bucks and started driving it.  Everything worked good on the car, even the air conditioning was cold.

Over the years I made sure to change the oil every 3k and I had to replace little things.  Back springs, Alternator etc.  Finally at 225,000 the transmission was slipping.  I did my homework and found a replacement for $200 which was under 100,000 miles and had a mechanic install.  Total price $500.  Not bad, the Air conditioning was still blowing cold and everything seamed to work on the car, even the cruise control.

Guess what?  It is now the summer of 2014.  I have owned the car for 8 years and have drove it daily.  It has just turned 300,000 miles and burns about a 1/2 quart of oil between changes. The radio is stuck on AM and there is some rust and dents but overall still solid.  Recently it saved me from a pretty major accident in which a big truck pulled out in front of me on the highway and forced me to do some fancy NASCAR moves to avoid total destruction. Who would have thought in the 1990's that with regular maintenance a car could be on the road 19 years.  My youngest daughter only remembers one car and she is now 9.  Both the girls never are embarrassed to be seen getting dropped off at school or ask to get rid of the "old junker" matter of fact it has been in the family so long it is almost like a family member.  I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it when I get a new car.  You can't just throw it away and with that many miles it might be hard to sell.

The only thing I know is that I saved the car from the junk yard many years ago and it has paid me back 10 fold.  It is the oldest car in the company parking lot and it has survived living outside in the Minnesota winters, driven my kids to 3 different schools,  numerous sets of tires, brakes, oil changes, trips to work, trips to the grocery store, vacations, being broke into, a couple of windshields and even a hail storm or two. I have an old golf club to prop the hood open when I need to check the oil.  There are coffee stains on the rug and you can pull the key out of the ignition when its running.  But like all things, it is showing age and I know there are not many miles left to be had. I hope to get through one more winter and then its time to replace with a new model.  My 100 bucks have served me well and guess what?  The Air Conditioning still blows cold.