car shopping - AGAIN

If I thought car shopping in June was bad (the day I bought my Accura it was 109 as we stepped out onto the lot) yesterday it was 112 - and since it's monsoon season we had some of that pesky humidity. Lisa wants a Mini Cooper (because of size, visibility, ease of handing, etc.) so we started there.  While there are car dealers up the wahoo all along West Bell out by us, the only Mini dealerships (as in 2 of them) are way over in the East Valley, in Tempe and Scottsdale.  So we took a drive yesterday.  Since all the new ones in stock were manual (and she definitely wants an automatic transmission) she test drove a pre-owned one, and fell in love with this 2008.

But since they weren't giving cars away that day (if they had been we would have driven it off the lot and brought it home) we agreed it would be a wise idea to look at some other cars.  Lisa also test drove a Chevy Aveo (very similar size) which wasn't as zippy, but otherwise 'worked'.  (So many of the cars out there today have very slanted front windshields, which may be good in the aerodynamics department, but not so good for visibility.)

The kids have always known that we would buy them the car of their choice upon college graduation.  MY first car (a college graduation gift from my parents in '71) was a Camero.  I got to order it from the dealer, and my 'wish list' of options?  Stick shift, and a push-button radio!  How the times have changed.....

I still remember the drive home from the airport when I flew home that spring, wondering why my dad wasn't taking his usual route.  It wasn't until we arrived at the dealership to pick up my car that it actually dawned on me that I wouldn't have to wait until the following day to drive my new baby!

All this, as it so often does, this reminds me of a story. <G>  In high school, most of my friends were driving snazzy cars like Mustangs and Firebirds, while I was stuck sharing the family's second car, a '61 blah-green Studebaker.  Of course it certainly was 'better than nothing', but to a teenager still somewhat embarrassing.  In order to try and fit in better with my friends' rides I asked my parents if I could put a racing stripe on it, and they agreed.  But before I could execute that plan I realized it really wasn't a racing-stripe sort of car, and so I suggested putting polka dots on it instead.  Rather surprisingly, they agreed (remember, this was the 60s, and I also lucked out in the Parent Lottery.) 

 So - I bought a roll of yellow contact paper (the adhesive-backed stuff for lining pantry shelves), used a canning jar lid as a template to trace circles, cut them out, and slapped them ALL over the car.  To say my parents were speechless at the result may have been an understatement, although my mom did admit later that it was actually fun to drive because everybody honked and waved at her.  Here I am parked in front of a friend's house, circa 1967:

And a funny I saved from that same time period: