May 11, 2011

At this point, I'm still unemployed. I received some expensive news on my 1994 Oldsmobile 88, and due to the repair costs being more than all my viable assets, I had no choice but to sell the car- which I was able to do in under 3 hours on the Colorado Springs version of Craigslist.

So goodbye, car #9. I don't know how long it will be before I can afford another one. I had the Oldsmobile for 3 years and 9 months, about a month less than my longest owned car, a 1986 Chevrolet Nova that also happened to be my first car.  My first 4 vehicles were able to be driven away when I sold them- the remaining 5 had to be towed away. All 9 vehicles I've owned have been driven in New York City- indeed, all 9 were driven on the BQE and the Long Island Expressway. But cars have changed a lot since the late 1980s. Gas was about a fourth of what it is now. Airbags weren't standard until the mid-1990s (and the Oldsmobile was one of only 3 vehicles I've owned that even had an airbag). And it is a lot more expensive in other costs to own a vehicle now. Most of my cars were cheap to repair. The ignition problem on the Olds will cost about what I sold it for, $325, because of a computerized chip in the ignition key (something no other vehicle I've owned ever had). But unlike my 1992 Skylark, my 1990 Taurus, my 1988 Caprice, and the infamous Chevy van (that died on me 3 days after I purchased it because the dealer forgot to add oil to it), that Olds will probably be running again. But I have had to sell all 9 of those vehicles due to extreme financial difficulties. After 18+ years, my finances and job situations still aren't stable.