My Cars Through The Years, Part 8

These two vehicles are “Honorable Mentions” because they were given to us, and we only owned them for a short time.

First is a 1985 Chevrolet Chevette given to us by my father-in-law (ironically, it was given to him by his church).  In 1994 I began preaching for the Fort Recovery Church of Christ in Fort Recovery, Ohio.  It is a very small church and they couldn’t pay me very much, so Jill had to go to work.  She worked at a nursing home in Portland, Indiana (about 10 miles away).  This meant I was without a car during the day.  In mid-1995, Jill’s Dad was looking to get a new car, and decided to give his old Chevette to us.  It wasn’t very reliable for him anymore, but it was great for me to drive around our small town.  We ended up taking it with us when we moved to North Carolina.  My salary doubled when we moved there, meaning it was no longer necessary for Jill to work.  So we ended up selling the Chevette shortly after we moved.  It served us pretty well for the short time we had it, and we were thankful for it.  But it was a typical Chevette — a rattle-trap that wasn’t very reliable and always seemed to need service.

When we moved to the Detroit area in 1999, we again had a need for a second car.  Jill wasn’t working, but having two young kids and living in a  large metro area, Jill needed transportation during the day.  Jill’s sister and her husband had a 1990 Ford Escort that they no longer needed, so they generously decided to give it to us.  It served us well for a little over a year — taking me to the office and back, and all around town.  But the transmission started to go in early 2001, so we ended up donating it to charity.  We were again looking for a second vehicle, and I would find one that would turn out to be an all-time favorite.  That will be the next installment in this series.  Stay tuned!