Gang, there were so many great stories that I eventually had to get my wife and kids involved in the voting process in order to narrow it down. If it were up to me I’d be sending a book to everyone.
But alas, I’m on a shoestring budget so I will only be sending out 2 books this time. Here are the winner’s stories:
When I was younger and being totally enamored with the 1970’s hippie thing, I decided that THE car to have would be a Volkswagen Bus. After looking at several rusted out clunkers, I finally found the car of my dreams in Texas. By the way, I lived in Western New York. I ended up purchasing a 1976, 2 tone red and white VW bus…without having ever seen it myself (my grandparents who lived in TX went and checked it over for me). I hired a guy to haul it up from TX for me for $500, on top of the $1500 sale price. Not too much money spent so far….except for when I got it home! It took $1200 worth of repairs just to get it running safely. Soon after, it died on the road, and I ended up with another repair bill in the $1000’s. However pricey, I enjoyed that bus (which I named Dr. Eddie, due to its former life as a delivery van for “Dr. Eddie’s Catering) for all of that summer. It was fun to cruise around with the windows down and beep the ridiculous sounding horn at passers-by. I even rode it in the local 4th of July parade. Then came NY winter….the van had no heat, so I had to keep a stack of blankets in the back for any unlucky passengers. The defroster was also bad, so some rags were necessary next to my seat to periodically wipe down the windshield. One morning, after an all-night blizzard, I came out to find a snowbank INSIDE the van – due to the wind driving the powdery snow in through all the many cracks and holes. Eventually the thing died with smoke pouring out the vents while I was driving on the freeway (not the best experience for a young lady at dusk). Dr. Eddie was laid to rest in the back yard, until I was able to sell it to a teenage guy who “really wanted a VW!” I also got married that summer, so I’m sure that Jeff really appreciated me unloading it before we got a joint bank account!
Jenny, that’s hilarious! My heart actually goes out to that little van with the little engine that could..I think I can, I think I can.
husband of “Sharon” says:
Posting this one on my husband’s behalf…
In 2001 he was driving a 1986 Nissan, which was “almost reliable with 250Kâ€, but had major issues. While at work, it broke down and he incorrectly thought that was “it†for the Nissan and it was time to get another car because our daughter was two and he needed something more dependable. So that night, he went out and bought a Kia Sephia, cheapest on the market at that time and picked it up the next day. When he showed up at work in the Kia, someone asked about the Nissan and basically implied it needed to be out of the company parking lot and asked what he was going to do with it. Jokingly my husband said, “Why, do you want it?†Then the person said he had a neighbor that was down on his luck and needed a car. My husband explained the car probably wouldn’t work. The man told my husband the man that needed the car was a mechanic and that if it didn’t work, he’d remove if from the lot anyway. Sold my husband, sold the car for $25.00. Come to find out the car only needed spark plugs and it ran like a champ. Also, the person that the man gave it to found $13.00 in the glove compartment. And to top that, my husband had lost the title, so in order to sell the car, he had to pay $10.00 to get a copy of the title. So, in all actually, he sold the car…..a fully functional, dependable car, which he past going to work each day for two years after the sell…..for an amount of $2.00
My whole family couldn’t stop laughing at this one! By the way “Husband of “Sharon†— I might need a little better hint so that I can get the book to you.
Thanks to everyone who shared their most embarrassing, “financial learning experience.†Now if we could all just learn from them!