The National Kidney Foundation LOVES Me!

Why you ask? Let me start by explaining that my father has a personal belief that a car is only an asset if you drive it into the ground! In other words we weren't that household who always had the latest and greatest vehicle. No, we were that household with a lot of beaters and a mechanic "friend" who let a few things slide each year when registration inspections were due. (note to self: become friends with a mechanic) After the cars were no longer salvageable we would pass them off to our friends at the National Kidney Foundation (a charity near and dear to my Dad's heart.) The foundation could then sell the parts for money + my Dad would get a tax write off = everyone wins!

With that said here are the reasons why the National Kidney Foundation LOVES me...

1) This is a 1981 Datsun Z. Also known as my first car...or the Z. Only mine was royal blue. I inherited this car from my sister-in-law, who had inherited it from her mother. It was awesome! It was 1997, I was 16 and ready to cruise. Not only did the radio sit on the floor with wires exposed, (serious safety hazard when you want to change the radio station while driving) but the engine regularly overheated which necessitated a large jug of water be present on the floor of the passenger seat at all times. I have fond memories of steam rising from my car in the middle of an intersection while I attempted to poor water in the tube thingy by the engine. Well, needless to say this car officially died in 1998. Off to the Kidney Foundation she went.


2) This is a 1980 something (not sure the exact year) Audi. Mine was silver. Oh man was I in hog heaven when I inherited this little beauty. I once again inherited this car from my sister-in-law (yep same SIL), who inherited it from her Grandmother. It was in much better shape than the Z ever was since her Grandma only drove it back and forth to the grocery store for years. It was old, but ran well....that is until I got my hands on it. I still claim that it wasn't me that sent these cars to their death. I was just the unlucky one always driving them on their last leg. At any rate this bad boy got me through the rest of high school and then went to her grave shortly there after. Off to the Kidney Foundation she went.3) This is a 1980 something Honda Civic. Mine looked just like the one in this picture...only it was white...missing a hubcap...or two...and had some serious rust stains on about 1/2 of the car....but other than that JUST like this one :) I affectionately named her, White Trash, or WT for short. (Even my mother referred to her as this.) She had a funny pop clutch that took some getting used to and oh yeah, did I mention her air conditioner didn't work? That was fun in July. But hey, as a college freshman living in the dorms I was just grateful to have a way to escape once and a while. This car has so many breakdown stories that we could be here all day, but I won't bore you, I'll just give you the highlights of WT's last hurrah: driving to Ogden from Provo, scorching summer heat, no AC, breaks down not one, not two, but THREE times along I-15, final breakdown is in Roy, car will not accept any more treatments, flag down cop car, ride home with officer. Off to the Kidney Foundation she went.
4) This is a 1990 something Nissan Maxima, but to me he was Elliott. My first male car. After driving WT around for so long driving Elliott was like driving a Bentley. I had an automatic transmission for the first time, a CD player, power windows, and real live air conditioning! The ONLY thing missing was cup holders...oh right, and the electric display panel that told you how fast you were going, how much gas you had, etc etc., but who's keeping track?

Elliott was good to me and in return I was good to him. I kept him clean inside and out, constantly giving him baths on Saturdays and Armoraling his insides. I even gave him flare with a fancy zebra steering wheel cover (which for some reason Jeff always took off when I wasn't looking.) Then, one fateful day in June of 2002 Jeff & I had taken Elliott for a leisurely ride to the top of Squaw peak and on our way back down he sputtered his last sputter. (Thanks again SK & Jake for saving us by the way.) Elliott was supposed to be Jeff and my car when we got married. Now what were we going to drive? Off to the Kidney Foundation he went.
5) And enter Big Blue, aka the Easy Rider, later known as George Mason, our 1990 something Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme, courtesy of Jeff's Grandma. George Mason was one smoo0th ride. In fact, and I quote, "It's a smoother ride than my Lexus ever was. I quite like this car." Brent Lind
George was smooth and more importantly had a front bench seat. Nothing says family fun quite like having Jeff on one side and SK on the other singing show tunes on the way home to Alpine for Sunday dinners. Good times, good times....but I digress. George treated us well for 4 years (my longest car relationship to date) until he slowly started to deteriorate. First it was just a broken front seat, then steering wheel problems, which lead to transmission problems, broken windshield wipers, a bum passenger side seat belt (safety smafety), and on, and on, and on on on. This is how our big blue easy rider came to be known as George Mason (if you don't get the reference then you don't know Jack.) (Okay, I can hear you saying, "Booooooooo" in your heads right now, but I couldn't help myself.) He too committed suicide in an effort to safe millions of lives. Trust me, he was a major highway hazard! Off to the Kidney Foundation he went.
6) This is a 1994 Geo, only ours was green. After George's death we didn't think we had it in us to drive again, (well that or the fact that we were moving to NYC and no longer felt it necessary to own a car) but then my brother offered us his Geo....for FREE! The Geo was old but it was in great shape because my brother had taken good care of it. Well, one week in Queens changed all that in a hurry. You see we were too cheap to park the car at our building (it cost $250 a month) so we parked it across the bridge in Queens. We knew others who had done it for years and had no problems. We weren't so lucky. After only a few short weeks the car's window was bashed in, the radio ripped out and stolen, the roof was dented in almost to the tops of the seats with foot prints on top of the car (I guess someone thought it was fun to jump on top of the car), and the entire car was towed to the impound (That was a fun $350 treat!) All of my brother's years of good maintenance gone. We still drove the good ol' Geo around, but it wasn't pretty and Jeff often threatened to push it into the East River. Then about 3 weeks before we moved to Colorado (when the Geo finally would've had the warm protection of a garage) it died. Off to Kidney Foundation it went.
Now behold...a 2008 Chevy Malibu!!! Isn't she pretty?!
For the first time in my life I actually purchased a car! Don't get me wrong I was incredibly blessed to have had free transportation from age 16 to 26, BUT along with free comes OLD, RUN DOWN, BEATER, you get the idea. Now in my 27th year I have achieved ultimate luxury...a new car (complete with that new car smell and all!) Mmmmm. I know what you're thinking, "It's not like she's driving a BMW or Merc," but you know what? To me that's exactly what it feels like. Oh yeah, and did I mention my Bu has cup holders? BONUS!

You're welcome National Kidney Foundation! But just so you know...you're not gettin' my Bu!