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Color me pink: No more car payment to BofA
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I’m seeing pink today.

For the third time in some 39 years of driving I actually own the vehicle I drive.

The pink slip came in the mail Friday. It was just a week after Bank of America got my final payment. They told me to expect the title from the California Department of Motor Vehicles within four to six weeks. It came within days. That’s an impressive turnaround for the DMV.

It’s my 11th vehicle in 39 years. And without a doubt, auto manufacturers have gotten better with time especially those headquartered in Detroit.

My first car was a used 1967 Mercury Cougar. It was a good little vehicle I bought from the aunt. I asked her why she had 100 pounds of lead in the trunk. She told me to take it out and I’d find out. The lead went back in the trunk after I made my first sudden stop. The Cougar’s rear was so lightweight compared to the rest of the car that it tended to fish tail when you came to a quick stop.

Next was the Chevy Monza 2+2 that I made the mistake of buying with a V-8 engine. When General Motors discovered mechanics couldn’t reach two of the spark plugs and had to take the engine out to do a complete tune-up, they nicely covered that part of the tab. But it also took the better part of two days to do. The Monza was OK other than the fact the driver’s door got stuck and wouldn’t open; they put on a Vega replacement part for the hinge causing the door to fall off when I turned onto the street to leave the dealership, and the urethane front bumper changed colors within the first year. Did I mention the dealership sold me tire chains for it but the wheel well in the rear was too tight to allow you to put them on? They did refund my money at least including the cost of a snow tow.

No problems with my next four GM cars: A Chevy Concours, a Firebird T-Top, a Grand Prix T-Top, and a hybrid diesel Grand Prix. Well, no problems except for the fact the $12,000 Grand Prix hybrid diesel dropped $5,000 in value the second I turned on the ignition and drove it off the lot.

I got into the accident with the Grand Prix diesel within a month of buying it. My insurance company said I was lucky. If it had happened a year later, they would have totaled it due to the hybrid diesel’s incredibly hideous resale value which, of course, they never told me about when I bought it.

After the car was repaired, I was upset that they had put a lot of Toyota electrical parts on the car when they worked on it. This was the 1980s and the mantra out of Detroit was “buy American.” After checking into it I found my vehicle had been assembled in Canada and that half of the stuff under the hood was made in Mexico.

It explains why my next vehicle was a Datsun 280ZX T-top. It had more American-made parts on it than any of my previous three American- “built” cars. The automatic transmission, glass, T-top, wheels, tires, and stereo system were all manufactured stateside.

Next up was a 760 Volvo that was indeed one of the safest cars out there since it spent more time in the garage than on the road.

Then I started hitting pay dirt. Since the only dealer that would give me a decent trade-in on the lemon of a Volvo was another Volvo dealership, I ended up with the Swedish answer to the VW bug - the 240. It was reliable and problem free.

I moved to Manteca, went nuts, started listening to country music, bought my first white vehicle, and my first “truck” - a Chevy S-10 Blazer. White was in response to the dust. I drove the Blazer for 14 years.

Next up was the new Chevy Malibu hatchback that impressed me with everything from handling and its overall tightness. I would still have the vehicle today if it wasn’t for the fact I was getting a bit apprehensive about the number of meth-types who kept peering in the rear windows to see what was in the hatchback.

My biggest requirement for the next vehicle was to have one I could carry my bicycles in and not have to worry about people being able to see what I had in the back end.

I was shocked that I ended up in a Ford Escape, and a hybrid at that.



This column is the opinion of managing editor, Dennis Wyatt, and does not necessarily represent the opinion of The Bulletin or Morris Newspaper Corp. of CA.  He can be contacted at dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com or 209-249-3519.