By 1991 I was tired of living in the suburbs of Philadelphia and being stuck in traffic jams, so I began my exit strategy. Having attended and worked at a summer camp in Vermont, this was the place I aimed to go. Several problems stood in my way. In 1989 fresh from my cross country roadtrip and newly employed as an Irrigation Designer for Toro, I had purchased my first new car (Honda Civic) and had a loan on it. I still had a 1973 VW camper, a 1966 Corvair and (2) 1950 Fo

After my semester off, I spent the summer working at a camp in Vermont and then went to Eastern Mennonite College for the year (half of which was spent in Central America on a semester abroad). The summer of 1987 I was back in Pennsylvania working and planning to go to Goshen College to study art in the fall. As usual I was looking through the car ads and saw something that peaked my interest (even though I'm a Ford guy). The ad went something like this - 1966 Chevrolet Co

Summer 1985. I had finished my first year at Millersville University and was home for the summer, working for a landscaper mowing lawns and weeding flower beds. This job took us all over southeastern Pennsylvania and as I rode shotgun between lawns, was given the opportunity to see the sites along the way and also what was for sale. One day we went a different way to avoid traffic and passed a pair of old Ford pickups surrounded by unmowed grass in a suburban front yard. I co

A first car is a learning curve that should lead to something better when it's time to pick out that next vehicle. I viewed my first car as a stepping stone that would lead me to my second car. The work that I had done on that first car raised it's value, so I could sell it and use the money to buy the next one. I'm one of those people who is always watching the side of the road to see what's for sale even if I'm not in the market for a new ride. Certain cars are instantly wr

The best part about buying a $400 first car, is that you don't have much to lose. The Mustang I bought was quite simple to work on and parts were readily available. With the help of a friend who had some mechanical experience, I was able to tackle most of the things that it needed to pass inspection. Now that the car was roadworthy, it was time to tackle the body issues. Unfortunately, the only thing I knew about bodywork was called Bondo. Fortunately, by now I was working at

Everyone who has ever owned a car has had the one that came first. Sometimes it was handed down from an older sibling or relative. This was usually not really the car that you would have picked out for yourself. I was the oldest in my family and had no older brother or sister to get a car from, so it was up to me to earn the money and pick out my first car which was just fine with me. First order of business, was to earn some money. As a 14 year old with permission from my pa