1st car 1952-54 or thereabout Business Man's Ford, sold new with no back seat, no windshield wipers, no signal lights, no lights, no jack, no spare, with at least 150k accumulated miles Paid $55:
from the same junk yard, 5 retreads ($10 ea), a free jack, hood mounted turning lights for each fender from a 39 Pontiac, plus free cable $2 each, 2 Spearman Frog lights and cable from a tractor of indeterminate age, $1.50 ea, drum brake set (4) from an unknown wreck, all from the same junk yard. Donated windshield wipers, no motor, a rope, and assorted mattresses from the Salvation Army for backseat (?) comfort. Put about another 70k miles driving between Syracuse, Oswego, Watertown, Kingston Ontario and assorted back roads in the countryside, Cortland, over 5 months and it met a bitter end at 3mph hitting a frozen oak tree as it slipped off the ice in a driveway as I attempted to get it off the road during a plow alert from a real blizzard. Couldn't see my hand 5" from my face. The engine cracked the chassis and firewall, ending up in the front seat next to me.
2nd car: An all wood body and chassis single stroke 36 horsepower motor, Morgan two seater, 4 wheels, plywood floor board, could hit almost 30 mph downhill with a good tail wind. Glove brakes for grabbing the driver's front wheel. It may have been British racing green at one time? From the same junkyard, $75, no modifications, lasted 19 days before being hit by lightening, burnt to a crisp while parked, sort of. I weep. That car restored today, upwards of $250k. Look up Morgan, a two year waiting list for the hand made 3 wheelers. As if I knew at the time. It kind of looked like an MG TD.
Thereafter a series of mundane American used cars of many varieties that got me where I had to go until 1978 when I bought the first Turbo Mustang, a beauty in Silver with tan leather seats, and the doors both fell off the second week. And kept falling off. Back to Ford under the Lemon Law, I bought a Jeep Cherokee, and a 1972 Fiat Spyder for fun. Both spent many hours in the shop. Somewhere in that mess, a 12 cylinder Ford Pantera, won in a card game, held for 4 weeks till I could find a buyer, that car scared me silly. Man was not made to drive 200 mph cars. Especially this man. (The prior owner later told me his wife said he goes or the car goes, or she goes. My wife said something similar, with more invective.) Then a Ford Explorer that lasted, and lasted, between 82 recalls.
Today, a mid 2011 Black Caddy CTS Coupe-V, with 54k miles, only a need to flush the brake fluid reservoir once, recently, beyond normal maintenance. I leave BMW's in the dust, same for tricked up Toyota's and Nissans the kids drive. 556 horsepower, comfort, a crappy CD player, which I replaced, and that's it. All the kids say it's the hottest looking car in the neighborhood, among the afore mentioned BMW's, Volvos, Jags, Mercs, Vettes. etc. Practical? No. 8 mpg.
My wife is only allowed in it as a passenger. She doesn't complain, likes being chauffeured in a hot car and has her own vehicle.
OK, so I know how to turn left because that's when everyone is blowing their horns. Garaged, not a scratch or dent on it. Hand washed weekly. A man has got to do what a man has got to do.