James - An American Classic (Part 2)

So, I've owned James for almost a week now and I must admit I am in love.  It is such a classic, strong, and fun car!  Everywhere I drive people are looking at it and asking me about it.  The other day I came home from work to grab some lunch and this guy mowing somebody's lawn just stopped what he was doing and watched me as I drove down the street.  The reaction I get from people is just neat, because I've never owned a car that makes people react that way.

After buying a Jeep Grand Wagoneer I have been seeing them more often.  The other morning I saw one at the Chik-Fil-A Dwarf House as I stopped by to grab a chicken biscuit.  It was a tan one, a couple years older than mine in pretty good condition.  Then a guy that works on the maintenance staff at my mom's church bought a green 1986 model for $500.  The catch with that - its not in the "best" condition.  Needless to say, you get what you pay for with a car that is older than 20 years.  Anything under about $7,000 is going to have problems, anything under $3,000 is going to "need some serious work."  The real nice ones are going to cost you over $12,000 - all the way up to the nicest of nice for $85,000.

Then, when Natalie and I were taking pictures of James in front of the house some guy on a bike stopped by and asked us about our Wagoneer.  He apparently owns a 1987 model and needs some parts for it.  Apparently his wife rolled it!  It still runs just as good as it did before, but he needs to repair some things on it.

Needless to say, I love it!  It is such a great ride.  I can't wait to take it up-state to go camping, to go look at leaves, to go see my parents and sister's family - to go to work tomorrow.

He does need some maintenance, however, because when I start him sometimes he takes a little while to start.  I think it is, simply, a combination of the ignition components and the carburator needing some TLC.  Some of the windows need to be lubricated (they move slowly), but overall it is an amazing vehicle.

This afternoon, I pulled James in front of the house so I could take some pictures of him.  Look at these pictures.  What other car looks this good just sitting in front of your house?  No posing, no car wash or wax, no fancy effects - just a car in front of a house in the afternoon.

So, let me put the reason why I love this car this way.  When you wake up in the morning do you look forward to driving your car?  When you sit at work do you look out the window and look foward to driving it home at the end of the day?  When you are sitting at home, do you try and think of reasons to drive your car?  Well, now I do.  I've never looked forward to driving a car like that - except for about 6 months when I first learned how to drive.  Well, now I look forward to driving my car whenever I can.  It puts a smile on my face.  For me - that makes it worth it.

James - An American Classic

Every once in a while you see a car driving down the road and you say, "Hey, WHAT IS THAT?" You know the kind of car that makes you crane your neck and get all your friend's attention? Well, I just bought one of those tonight and I named him James.

Yup, I just purchased a white 1990 Jeep Grand Wagoneer. For those of you who don't know what kind of vehicle it is see some of the pictures I have included in this post. You've probably seen one in a movie or a magazine or a commercial. Jeep manufactured them for over 28 years from the late 60's to the early 90's. They stopped producing them in 1991 actually and replaced them with the Jeep Grand Cherokee (a poor substitute if you ask me).

So why did I purchase a piece of Americana? Well, my old car - a 1994 Nissan Sentra - is nearing the end of its life. I had two choices - 1) I could continue driving it until it fell apart and died on me or 2) I could buy another vehicle and try and sell the Sentra before it died - at least getting some money out of it. To put into perspective how old and nasty this car is - picture the car you had 15 years ago. Now, imagine you're still driving it. No replaced parts, no restoration, just the same car - 15 years older.

Also, I should mention that ever since I have been able to drive I have been driving vehicles that someone else purchased and let me drive. My first car was a hand-me down that my parents bought for my sister. My sister, Kirsten, complained the entire time she owned it making my parent's life just a little more stressful than anyone deserves. I inherited this blue 1987 Ford Escort which I drove, despite the air conditioner breaking, until the transmission blew on it one morning on the way to school. They replaced the transmission and sold it (for the cost of the transmission - $700) to a young mom in need down the street.

My then second car was a red 1990 Geo Prism for about 3 years which my father had a car dealer friend locate on auction. He paid about $100 over what the dealer paid and I drove that little Geo Prism until I threw a rod in the engine while passing someone on the way back to my first ministry job as a Youth Minister in Tennille, Georgia. The car fetched $200 when my dad sold it to a local used car dealer (because the radio I had installed was worth $200).

So, finally after those two bombs of cars my parents felt a little guilty and decided to lease me a Honda Civic which was much more reliable and quite nice. (You see they had leased my sister a Honda Civic when she graduated from high school - while I still had her hand me down car). My Civic was a great car, my favorite up until today, but I didn't pick it out. If I would have had my choice I would have gotten a PT Cruiser. They had just come out and I thought they were the coolest thing ever (not so much now). I drove that blue 2003 Honda Civic until I graduated and got married. I couldn't afford to but it so they turned it in and got a different car. Natalie got some money from her grandparents and she bought a new silver 2005 Nissan Altima. I got stuck with Natalie's old 1994 Nissan Sentra, which she learned to drive on. I bought it from her dad for $1 and barely drove it out to Texas, where it lasted - incredibly - for 4 1/2 years.

So here I am - 27 years old and I had a choice to make. I could have bought a used truck. Unfortunately, we couldn't afford any of the ones I wanted. I could have bought a used SUV, but sadly we couldn't afford any of those either. I could have bought another old model Nissan or Honda and drove it until it fell apart - and that was the plan, until . . .

Natalie mentioned one day, after seeing a picture of a Grand Wagoneer in a magazine of hers, that "wouldn't it be cool to own a really classic, cool car like that one day?" I thought, "yeah, that would be cool." But didn't really give it a second thought until late last week. Sometime around Friday night an idea popped into my head. I wonder if I could buy one of those cars. I didn't even know what it was called. So I did a little research and discovered what they were called. The idea rolled around in my head, until on the way home from Warner Robins on Monday afternoon - I mentioned my thoughts to Natalie. She seemed excited about the idea, so when we came home we started looking online. We researched Wagoneers for a couple hours and found one listed on Craigslist up in Dallas, GA. I was excited.

After a lot more research and a night to sleep on it - I couldn't stop thinking about this car. You see according to my original plan I was going to buy a late model used car - a 1990 something foreign car. The problem with that plan was that after a couple years the car would either break down on me or cease to be marketable. The 1990 Grand Wagoneer, however, has stayed a desirable car and will continue to be a desirable car. (to be continued)