Best $1000 I ever spent

When I was 16 I got my driver's license. Not right away as I turned 16 in March and I was still taking driver's ed. I also couldn't drive until I could get my own insurance so I had to have a job. Anyway - when that was all in place and I passed the test (the second time) I got a car. My first car was a 1972 Datsun B110. It was orange and we called it the little orange bomber. It's official name was the Little D - as it was my Dad's car and he was Big D. Well, driving a car that belongs to your parents has it's pitfalls. I was not allowed to drive their other cars as I was only insured on the Datsun. AND if I was to get in to any trouble the car was the first to go. My dad would take the car for missed classes, fallen grades, late curfew, you name it. I finally had enough of the car being taken away - in fact so had my mother. On one occasion I was grounded from the car except for going to school and back - I also had a job. My mom let me take the car to work too because she just couldn't get me all over town and back. Shhh don't tell - my dad still doesn't know. So anyway, enough of the car being taken away - I unloaded all of my belongings one day and literally threw the keys at my dad and told him I would buy my OWN DAMN CAR! Yes, that's exactly what I said. So, at 17 I had about $1000 in the bank and my mom tracked down a car for me to buy. I took my hard earned money over and made the exchange $1000 for a 1978 Datsun Pickup - it was red. This little truck got a lot of use. I bought it in 1990 and drove it for my entire senior year. I went to Ricks for my first year with no car but the second year my friend Stefani and I loaded up truck and headed to Idaho. We underestimated the amount it would cost in gas and had no money to stay in a hotel so we drove straight through. It was brutal but we made it. When I got married we were one of the few couples I knew with 2 cars. I had the truck and Stew had a little blue Mercury Tracer. I would go home and friends I had would ask if I remembered that little red truck and I would respond "you mean the one in my driveway at home?" I drove that little truck until 1999 when I sold it on July 4th. Why did I sell it? Well, I was a month away from having my second baby and there were only 2 seatbelts. Not enough room to haul two kids around. The second reason we sold it was because it didn't have A/C and my husband didn't want to drive it. So, off went the little red Truck - which I sold for $500 - and I got the Tracer and Stew bought a used Ford Ranger. Since then I've driven only 3 other cars - the Sienna I sold before we moved to England, the Toyota Picnic I drove IN England and now another Sienna. There are definitely days that I miss running around town in that little red truck though.