Grow Up Already!

[protege]

Kids like that just piss me off. My parents didn't give me things like that when I was growing up. (Yes, I know I was given the MG, but it was *far* from being a runner...) I didn't get a car when I turned 16. What I got, was the "use" of my father's beat-up, 1987 Ford Tempo. That damn car broke down nearly every time I went out. And yes, I hated that thing, and was not sorry to see it go when its engine blew up in '94. At least I was able to get a newer car (the Tercel) after I'd seized the insurance cash. Since I got injured in the accident (I got hit after the engine failure), why not?

At least I got to see what some of my fellow students did with their cars. I know one guy, who had a Dodge Dakota pickup. He'd lowered it, had it repainted, fitted expensive wheels...only to wrap the thing around a light pole in the school parking lot

[MadMike]

Studdent #2: Yeah but i told him i wanted it in blue and it was red so i told him to take it back

Ungrateful little shit!

I wasn't even given my first car. My grandparents bought it for me, but I had to pay them back. The idea behind that was that money was tight at the time, as I was still working retail, and if I was unable to make a payment some month, they'd just let it go, where an actual lender would not be so forgiving. That, and I only had to pay them back the actual amount they paid for the car, not any interest like with a real loan.

[iviles]

Guess enough people heard the wrong color car thing cus they made a spoof of it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzG_oHDLZdctheres also a carmax camercial on it too

[Catwoman2965]

Nice...gotta love all the spoiled brats! I drove my parent's cars until I was a junior in college, mom had this butt-ugly green station wagon, but dad had an '83 Cutlass Supreme with a V8 engine...and a sunroof! hahahaha - Guess whose car I preferred to drive?

After that, mom bought a THIRD car which was for me to use. I wasn't allowed to call it mine, as I didn't pay for it. Her logic was I couldn't have a summer job without transportation, and since both she and my dad worked, it was easier to buy a 9 year old Volvo wagon for me to drive. She had another idea; senior year of college, no more driving me back to school!

I loved that car...kept it until it was 18 - and i'm guessing if i still had it, it woudl still run.

I knew a girl in college who got a brand new BMW "because my parents have been promising me for a while I'd get it" - I hated her, she was the epitomy of rich and spoiled, as well as nasty to those who weren't of her "status" I also knew I was in trouble when I saw kids in college driving nicer cars than MY parents had!

[zzapp the witch]

In college (1998, still haven't finished) I drove a 1978 Suburban. The gas was hell, but my parents' reasoning is that if someone hit me in it, I'd be safe. My parents actually trusted my driving greatly, which I still find odd to this day. Kids at college made fun of my rig, until they saw me whipping it around in the parking lot and started freaking out that I would hit their nice cars.....not like I'd mind an extra ding, right?

Plus, I could load everything/everyone up in it and go....and I didn't bitch if you got mud all over the floorboard.

And Geek King: Going around a mountain switchback at full speed on gravel, sideways, with the back tires riding the edge of the road above a 50+ ft dropoff and praying to god you had enough weight in the car to swing it around the right way at just the right second at the end......and not spill your drink.

I got kids now, can't do that anymore. (Until I raise em and get a nice life insurance policy for myself ).

[TryNotToBeThatOne]

I was very lucky. I got a car from my grandparents when I was 14. Not that I was allowed to do more than touch it until I was 16. It's just that they had put a new engine in it & decided that the trade in value wasn't worth what they'd put into it.

I loved that little orange bomb. Until it got totaled when I got rear-ended my senior year of high school. I went through 3 cars in the next 4 years. Not because I wrecked any of them. It was because none were in my name & when the parent wanted them back, I didn't have them any more.

The last car (was in my name after I got out of college) lasted me 5 years until my mom noticed it making an odd squealing sound. The noise was from the weld on the frame after some accident (before I owned it). I sold that car to the mechanic for the remainder of the repair bill that I owed him. Alarmed at the probably unsafe nature of the car, Mom bought me a new used one (only 2 years old, whoot!).

I'm still driving it, 12-13 years later. Poor thing. The only thing keeping it going these days, I think, is that I only drive it once every two weeks or so.

My step-sister? I suspect that she wrecked the car that her grandparents gave her in high school because it wasn't the one that she wanted. They gave her what she wanted for her 2nd car.

[Geek King]

And Geek King: Going around a mountain switchback at full speed on gravel, sideways, with the back tires riding the edge of the road above a 50+ ft dropoff and praying to god you had enough weight in the car to swing it around the right way at just the right second at the end......and not spill your drink.

I hear you. The only good thing to come of it is that I handle fishtailing and driving on near-frictionless surfaces (see: wet sheet-ice) better than anyone I know. I once went sideways (not on purpose. black ice at night <shudder>) on a banked highway off-ramp for over 500 feet, with cars on either side of me, and concrete barriers in front and behind without slowing or scratching my truck. Had to replace the upholstery on the passenger's side seat though.

[Tito]

If he's drag racing, then he has no business being behind the wheel in the first place. His license needs to be taken away from him. Cars are not toys.

[Argabarga]

I inherited my Dad's old pickup when I was 16, 78' Dodge pickup, they told me that they'd insure it, but any and all maintenence/gas was my responsibility and if I did anything wrong, the keys were comming back as the truck was in thier name.

I learned to change my own oil

I learned all the basic maintenence

I learned to rebuild the engine

I crawled through junkyards picking up parts it had lost or broke over the years

I learned how to drive in the snow, the rain, around other people who aren't paying attention

I never mistreated it, or abused it, and it lasted me until 4 years past college when it's tired body finaly succumbed to time and rusted away, I miss that truck.