Clipart by Lee Hansen, www.leehansen.com"My first car was a 1975 Datsun B210. This is the car that later evolved into the Nissan Sentra.
When I graduated high school in 1982 my grandfather wanted to buy me a new '82 Sentra for my graduation present. But my dad and grandmother vetoed the idea.
So, I worked and saved what I could. (I was supporting my mother and sister at this time.) When I told my grandfather that I was planning to buy a '71 toyota we made an agreement.
No, it wasn't about toyota versus datsun; it was about the fact that the car I had in my sights was just short of the scrap heap. He told me to "do a little better" and that he'd help out only if I "never let dad and grandma know".
Meanwhile as I continued to save, my uncle found this cute little datsun and negotiated a great price. (Grandpa only ended up kicking in my first year's insurance costs.)
The funny part was that when my uncle took me to get the car, it turned out to be a stick shift. And I had only driven (tried to drive) a manual transmission once.
My uncle and the seller made a deal: if I could get it home, I'd keep it. If not, he would refund my money and take it back.
That day, what should have been a 10 minute trip took me almost an hour but I got "Bay Bay" home.
I kept that car for 5 years and over 100,000 miles - including halfway across the country and back - twice!
To this day she's still my favorite of all the cars I've had since.
My uncle bought her from me, when she was closing in on 300,000 miles and I finally gave in and bought a new car.
A 1983 Nissan Sentra."
Vanessa
http://www.vanessasdesk.com
