I was passed down an '97 Lexus from my father when I turned sixteen. Even though it was my first car it is not the car I remember best and certainly didn't consider it to be MY car. A week before senior year of high school my parents informed me that my my uncle was willing to sell his old '82 three series BMW for 900 dollars. It was a dream come true because I would not have to share a car with my brother. We drove out to Macon, GA to look at it and right when I stepped out the car I knew that I had to have it. It was a periwinkle blue color that glistened in the sunlight surprisingly well despite its age. The interior leather was worn out on the arm rests and it was too early of a car to have cup holders. The odometer read 260,000 miles and I was not surprised considering we were only going to pay 900 bucks for it. Still, I was excited as could be and couldn't wait for the hour and a half ride back to Atlanta where I would get to test it out and figure out how to work the radio and really floor it out. Well, the flooring it out part never really happened. I would say it had a 0 to 60 mph time of about 13 seconds but once it got up there everything ran fine. It was the exact opposite of what my friends saw as a "cool" car. There was actually very little that was cool about it except that it had a classic and sophisticated look. It was the first time I had been given such a big responsibility. Before I had driven my dad's old car but it was still my dads. This car was mine and I was going places with it.
Before a week it was nicknamed "the beamer" by my friends and they almost looked at it like a big joke that I had thought it was a good idea to buy it. It didn't go fast, it wasn't big, it didn't have a crazy loud audio system but it was perfect for me. As long as it drove I was OK with it. However, ten months later this would not be the case. The beamer had died and the repair costs were not worth it. I was heading off to college in a month so it wasn't that big of a deal and I knew its days were limited anyway. It was a functioning car. The beamer took me to where I needed to go and waited patiently until I needed its services again. After all, that's what a car is supposed to do right?
Nice car! I completely identify with the freeing feeling you get when you get your first car and realize that you are becoming a more independent person. It reminded me of the book "The Bean Trees" by Barbra Kingsolver about a girl who gets up a leaves her hometown in her car on an adventure to Arizona. Sounds like your car was good for you, I'm sad to here it died!
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