Might be time for a change in vehicle philosophy

I may have mentioned previously my current vehicle philosophy. It hasn’t always been my philosophy, but it’s worked for the last five or six years. I think I’m ready for a change.

My philosophy, as I’ve recited it to numerous folks over the years, is to have enough junker cars in front of my house that at any one time I can go out and depend on at least one of them to start and run.

Granted I’ve had a few times when I had to jump start more than one vehicle to have a driver. I have three of these junkers and with just one driver over the last few years it is a lot more of a challenge to keep all three batteries charged up.

During the winter it becomes really tempting to just drive the vehicle that lives in the garage. After all, it also has the heated seats and the little read-out that shows me how cold the outside temperature was.

That mini-van also was the only one I could easily get my late wife in and out of. That’s why I had the thing in the first place, not because driving a mini-van was my dream. Even so, driving a mini-van is really not all that bad. People think they won’t like the way they handle, but that’s a bunch of baloney.

The other good news besides moving folks with mobility issues is that you’re always ready to load up a crowd or drop the back seats down and haul boxes of peanuts or magazines if you’re a chamber guy.

When I worked selling cars my specialty was selling old folks mini-vans. All you had to do was show Grandma how easy she could get in and out and Grandpa how well it cornered and they were soon hauling grandkids off to Disneyland.

The only way I might entertain keeping the mini-van would be if I decided I wanted to live in it on the road. As I told my mother, if I’m going to live on the road, whatever I’m in will need to have a recliner.

I also have a Ford Ranger pickup I bought nearly new when we lived in Colorado. It has 4-wheel-drive and has the least miles of the three, even though it is oldest. After I quit using it on the road for business in Colorado I didn’t drive it a whole lot. Most of its few problems are small and the result of sitting too much. I think it would make a great Baja rig but I don’t want to invest that much money in tires and shocks on an old vehicle.

I also came into a Honda Accord that I thought would be a good replacement for a really old Toyota Camry with a little body damage. OK, the driver’s door wouldn’t open and the hood wouldn’t close. Turns out it was probably still a better car. The guy who bought it found a door and had a big hammer and I still see the thing around town, even though its 25 years old.

That Honda starts and runs great if you keep the battery charged, though. You just need to make sure and check the oil regularly. I loaned it out to a gal who used to work for me who had car trouble and a growing family.

It got ’em to work everyday, which was more than she could say for the one she owned. I guess they were enjoying it, I finally had to call and tell them they needed to make a payment and put their own insurance on the thing or bring it back. By then they had a new vehicle.

I think I’ll just get one pickup with a few of the newer amenities. That way I can keep it in the garage when it’s cold and keep the paint nice. The battery will always be charged and I won’t worry about how far the drive is to the fishing hole I’m headed toward.

Karl Terry writes for Clovis Media Inc. Contact him at:

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