My first car
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” The once great Victorian author, Charles Dickens, once said this expression, which I can say was the summary of the experience of my first car. I was 15, I’d just finished my driver’s education and I couldn’t have been happier to get my car. I always imagined it to be a high performance sports car or a flashy, expensive four door. My parents joked how I would be able to choose my car right after I got my license. I did get to choose my first car, but it was something that I wasn’t particularly proud of or something that I’d show to my friends. My dad and I drove by couple dealerships, starting from new, expensive cars to used cash clunkers. We first stopped at a North Park Lexus and were eye-shopping a couple shiny, but expensive cars and for a moment I thought my dad was serious cause he was talking to the salesperson. Eventually we ended up leaving the dealership with myself being in disappointment. The same events happened while we went to several dealerships and by the end of the day I thought I wasn’t going to get a car. On the way home, we stopped at a used car dealership where the cars looked like they’ve been through hell. He told me to go look around and see any that I thought were interesting; I’ve told him he couldn’t be serious. After around 30 minutes, I found the least damaged car and told him this would be fine. It was a 2003 Mitsubishi Galant with 97,203 miles and numerous engine problems, but it was still operable. Several minutes went by and the paperwork was finalized and I ended up driving it home. My dad made the moments a little better by giving me a $100 gas gift card and told me to spend it wisely. (I wasn’t planning on using premium gas on that deathtrap anyways.) For the first couple days of owning that car, I kept the news away from my friends to avoid massive embarrassment. It was because my friends ended up getting a new car, which was a lot better than mine. I...