ur parents have beaters growing up

[jumpncrash]

My mom always had crappy cars, but my dad would switch em up every 2 years

 

[Possessed Freak]

Growing up there was a mainstay in the family auto collection. A Jeep.

My parents bought a used Jeep mail truck when I was very young. They used it as a camper of sorts. It was destroyed when going down a steep hill and the engine braking over-revved the engine.

Then there was the original wagoneer. My dad used this for EVERYTHING. Eventually it became a pickup of sorts when a tree fell on the back of the thing, crushing the rear half of the roof.

Finally the mighty J10. The first vehicle I "drove". After hurricane Hugo, I was tasked to help my pop pull tree stumped out of the back yard. So I was the driver of the vehicle which consisted of:
10 Turn on engine with left foot on clutch
20 Let clutch out and let truck jerk forward
30 GOTO 10

While the truck was jerking forward, my dad was directing the rootball with the mighty Bolens tractor (another mainstay in the family household). After the task was finally complete, it was a trip to the pavement with the truck running over its own removed bumper to pin it in place while my dad sledgehammered it back into shape.

Eventually the J10 had an engine fire, and after that, it got lean and mean. We re-wired it but left out some purely cosmetic and superfluous things... like an air filter or a functional automatic choke. Nope, wired the choke into the dash as it was the only way to now kill the engine. A thief stole the AM radio out of it, which shocked my dad and he would have GLADLY given the guy $5 instead of having a hole where the guy ripped the unit out of the hardened plastic.

He finally sold it in the early '00s for $5k. Some nutjob wanted to restore it. Now I am looking for one to buy for my dad when he finally retires. I may have to go driving around looking for a dented, faded, scorched model and fork out some serious green for it.