My Cars Through The Years, Part 5

Jill and I were married in June of 1989, and we moved into our little apartment in the suburbs of Detroit.  The little Dodge Omni was going strong, but since we both worked in different parts of the city, we needed a second car.  So, after visiting a lot of dealerships and test driving several cars, we settled on a 1987  Volkswagon Jetta.  It was a great little car with a 4-speed manual transmission.  It became primarily Jill’s car, and she loved it.  It was quick and reliable — which was important since she worked as a Social Worker in some bad areas of Detroit!

Unfortunately, our relationship with the Jetta was short-lived.  In late December of 1990 we decided to go down to southern Ohio to spend the Holidays with Jill’s family.  It started snowing along the way, and by the time we reached Dayton, Ohio there were several inches of snow on the ground.  On I-75 in downtown Dayton, a car spun out in front of us, so I swerved to avoid it, and stopped on the left-side shoulder against the guard rail.  It was then that I heard the frantic blasts coming from the air horn of a fully-loaded tractor trailer.  I looked in my rear-view mirror and saw the tractor trailer sliding sideways toward our car.   It smashed into the back of our Jetta and the trailer came to rest on top of the passenger side of the car (right over Jill’s head!).  Thankfully, we were not hurt in the accident — but the same could not be said of the poor Jetta, as you can see in the pictures below.

So once again, we were in the market for a car.  This time we would find a rare gem.  That will be part 6 of our story.