Wednesday, April 23, 2008

The New Car

Presenting, our newest member of the family. A 1993 Dodge Intrepid. I just finished the last detail today, by getting it registered. Happily, we did stay under budget with the fix-ups, including the registration! We spent about $275, and the A/C now works perfectly. I have to say that Uncle Ken probably saved us about $2000 in labor, so thanks Ken!



I really like driving this...I wonder if Danni would trade and let me drive this and she can have my van? Yeah, probably not.



The interior looks nice, doesn't it? I was really surprised at what good condition it was in. We got lucky...found someone on Craig's List that was leaving the state, badly needed money and was desperate to unload the car.

Edited to Add, July 2008 - Yeah, badly needed money and wanted to unload a car that had a slight tendency to OVERHEAT. Like, if you were going more than 5 blocks, or if you had to sit at a red light, or if you dared to try and run the air-conditioner. Skeevy bastards. They knew about the problem too, because of the ungodly amounts of antifreeze with sealant that they used to try and fix a non-existant leak. I'm thanking God, again, that Ken is an electrician and loves Dodge cars. Because with a lot of his help, and not too much money, after a new water pump, new thermostat, new heat-sensor indicator thingy, a radiator and cooling system flush, and a serious bit of re-wiring....NOW the damn thing works. Phew. Caveat emptor, indeed.



My absolute favorite part of the car is something that Kylie discovered. We didn't even know about it when we bought it. Here is the back seat...



And here is the surprise fold-out child seat that's in the middle of the back seat! Kylie found this while she was just climbing around back there, the owner never even mentioned it! Did anyone know that these had even been thought of in 1993? I sure didn't! This solved a big problem for me, because I wanted Danni to be able to take Kylie around if I need her to, but she didn't want to have a car seat in her car. Kylie really still needs to be in a seat, because she's so small. Perfect solution!



I crack myself up sometimes. I've been using this car to run around during the day instead of my van. Hee!

Well, it's road-worthy and ready to go. I'm glad she's going to get practice driving it before she goes for her license. Also, my parents have offered to pay for a teen defensive driving clinic, which we will be signing her up for very soon.

In the meantime, I still get to drive the car. :)

5 comments:

onthegomom said...

That car rocks! You got a hell of a deal. We bought my son his first car when he was 16 *he's 18 now*. It is a 1994 Jeep Cheerokee, we got it for 1K, too. Now it is the biggest POS you have ever seen, as he took oh such good care of it. ONE car is all you get buddy, good luck. :) I am sure Danni will do much better, as she isn't a 'dumb boy'!

Thanks for your comment on my post, you cracked me up and made me smile. You speak what is whispering in my head and I love it!

Anonymous said...

Yay! You SO lucked out with the car. Gary was impressed, too. -- Bonnie

Anonymous said...

Wow! You guys really lucked out...now wish us luck when it comes to finding one for Paige next year!

Mary said...

Awesome deal!!! Wish we could get a couple of awesome deals like that for our teens.

My daughter has a baby seat in her car which really embarrasses her. Well, it's that or she can't go anywhere when she's babysitting - she opted for the baby seat.

It's so nice having a kid who can run errands and do some running around on her own! Saves me some time as the taxi driver. Love it! Hope you enjoy Danni driving too!

Anonymous said...

Hey, that's nifty. I like that built in seat, too. I rode in my friends Intrepid a couple of weekends ago and it was a comfy ride. :)