Focusing on a New Car

Yeah, big deal. So what. People buy cars all the time.

But I'm almost 48 and this is the first new car that I've ever bought.

I was 21 when I bought my first car. It was a 1981 Chevy Malibu. It was a five-litre, six-cylinder, gas-guzzling sedan. But it was cheap, and it was used.

I didn't really care for it, and so my father, who sells cars and found me my first set of wheels, found me a replacement a couple of months later. It was a 1979 Pontiac LeMans: the same size as the Malibu but it had a four-cylinder engine. It was also in really good shape and had incredibly low mileage for its age. It almost drove like new.

But it was ugly. And for a 21-year-old guy, it was too big and looked like a family car. Hardly a chick magnet.

My '85 Sunbird

And so, a few months later, my father found me a 1985 Pontiac Sunbird. It was a five-speed, manual transmission, two-door hatchback with two-tone paint and a sunroof.

I loved it.

I drove it everywhere, throwing my camera in the back and heading off for the day, taking photos of whatever moved me that particular day. I would get behind the wheel and just go. Sometimes, crossing the border at Ogdensburg, NY, following the south side of the St. Lawrence, eastbound, and crossing back into Canada at Cornwall.

Gas, back then, was between 45 and 50 cents per litre.

I've had a handful or so more cars since that Sunbird, but all of them have been used. It was high time that I picked a new car that was the make, model, style, and colour that I wanted.

Last week, we made that happen.

I told you that Lori and I narrowed the choice down to one model, and there were two such models on the dealership premises. One, which was the style and colour that I wanted, but it didn't have a manual transmission (something I would have liked but wasn't a deal-breaker) or a sunroof (something that Lori really wanted); the other, a model that had a sunroof but wasn't the colour that I wanted and had simpler interior styling.

Ultimately, we went with the car that met my wants. Finally, I have a car that is brand new and has the features that I wanted.

Lori loves it too.

Friends and loved ones: I present our new car.