Family Cars

In 1967, Reed purchased a brand new lime green Ford Mustang right off the showroom floor. We got married in 1971, had Kimberly in 1972 and Jill in 1974. The Mustang had around 140,000 or so miles and we had outgrown it.



In the spring of 1976 before Robin was born, we purchased a new buckskin tan 1976 Pontiac Grand Prix. Candace was born in 1977 and Jodi came along in 1980. Where did we fit everyone? Luckily the girls were all little and seatbelts and carseats weren't issues back then.



In April 1986 we were 'just looking' at vans and ended up coming home with a full-sized custom three-tone gray Ford van. It had levelors and drapes, swiveling captain chairs, a fold-down back bench, a table and lots of room. The girls fought over the seats so when we went on vacations, we had a rotating seating chart. I could never see well out the back windows and worried about backing over someone or something. Driving the van was great when I had to haul people or possessions but I didn't like it when I was driving alone. It felt like a bus.



The girls grew up and were getting driver's licenses and cars of their own. We didn't need a big van anymore. We ordered a Ford Explorer in 1994. We had a hard time deciding on what color to get...forest green or dark cranberry? We voted and got the dark cranberry with a gold package on it. I really enjoyed the Explorer. I liked being up high and being able to see well. If there was one dislike, it was probably the stiff truck suspension.



During the Christmas holiday of 2001 when I was at work and Reed was home on vacation, he found a car he liked and took a test drive. He took me out to the dealership for a test drive as well. So in December of 2001, we got a 2002 desert sand Toyota Avalon. We added the gold package on it as well. It has been a great car and has served us well for nearly 100,000 miles. We have basically had trouble free driving for 7 years. How long will it be until repairs start killing us? We have a few issues with it...none of which are Toyota's problems.




Five new 'family vehicles' have taken us through 41 years. We have had about an equal amount of pickup trucks. All of those were 'used' except the most recent one. Our current pickup is a pacific green 1998 Ford and only has about 30,000 miles on it. The girls bought their own cars except a white chevrolet monza and a cinnamon cadillac cimmeron.



We are satisfied with Toyota Avalons. We have just purchased a cocoa bean 2009 Toyota Avalon Limited. The car looks black unless it is in the sun...then it is brown topped with a clearcoat containing gold metal flake. The picture below doesn't show the unique color/paint. It will take a lot of care to keep looking pretty. It has many neat features which will probably take me a long time to learn and utilize. Love it, hate the payments.