Someone I know recently lost their car to a crash, so it needed to be replaced. That opened the door to the wisdom of experts which wisely, he ignored.

Expert advice about the “best” car would throw out every machine I’ve ever had and leave me with an uninspiring ride.

I started  well with my short list of small American cars in a day when that meant they were made in America of parts more likely than not made in America. That was the result of pressure from adults who ‘knew’.

“When you buy a foreign car you put an American out of work,” Grandpa advised.

Of course, that wouldn’t have been true. Based on the abysmal description of foreign car quality that I was given, buying one of them should have put three or four Americans to work selling parts and service.

My first car was excellent. So was my second car, and it was bought in the total absence of expert advice. That one was an emotional buy, based on a powerful and wondrous gut response to the sight of certain British cars. First with a TR4 two years previous when I saw it in the teachers parking lot. Then it happened again at the sight of a dark green Triumph GT6 in downtown Great Falls.

I had to have one. A month or so later, I was driving a Saffron low miles GT6 and it was my first foreign vehicle. I was living a couple of states away from the family influences who were quick to advise me that a little car was less survivable in a wreck. I was of the opinion that the point was moot without a wreck and that the agile nature of the car reduced the probability of one. I loved driving that thing.

Then I bought others.  Every one of them was assigned a defect by some expert. The Corvair was “unsafe” (ha ha! like my bicycle was a total assurance of survivability – oops, looks like this goes further back than my cars), the VW Van was too slow, the car with the motor in the middle was impractical, the truck was dog ugly and got bad gas mileage. You get the picture.

Someone is going to find fault with any transport that I use.

So my response continues to be to get what suits me. Even then, I don’t seek expert counsel about the best things to do to upgrade or alter the machine except about how to accomplish them. Even then there is quite a risk in relying on someone else. They might be the only source of expertise until I get my own though.

I have been wrong a few times. When I went to college I bought a Fiat 850 Spider instead of a VW Squareback. That was monumental. The VW would have been glorious and lasted longer. It would have been more useful.

Even being wrong hasn’t always been so bad. I probably should not have bought that Porche 914, but the price was so good! I had fun and sold it for three times what I paid. The last owner apparently didn’t know you could bring an old VW to life by jiggling things behind the dash panel.

I elected not to buy that Volvo P1800 when they were just another reasonably priced old car. Too bad, because the body style is one of the best I’ve ever seen in terms of visual impact. Uniquely beautiful. They’re not ‘drivers’ cars though. Like Toyota, they have other charms. Now they have caught fire and the prices continue to climb so I won’t likely ever  have one.

I’ve liked every car I’ve had. They were all good for what I wanted them for.

Now I find that the reasons I drive what I do are different from the ones some people assume, and they do love to do that. The sports cars are not because I’m in crises. I liked them when I was 20 and nothing’s changed. The truck is not to be Macho. It was my Dad’s fishing rig. It got him there and back and except for his decision to leave AC off the build when he got it new, I applaud his magnificent over-kill. It can tow a house, go where there are no roads, and may last my life time and still have plenty of miles left. He paid an extra $5000.oo dollars to get the huge turbo diesel, so you know he didn’t leave out the AC to save money. He also made sure it was a six speed manual shift. Nice as they are, he didn’t much trust automatic transmissions in an off road machine. He followed his own inclinations. Owning the BMW two seater has convinced me that the hoopla over paying more ‘just for a name’ was baloney. It really is a superior vehicle and I have had many years and 60,000 road miles to find out otherwise. Some people may consider the Marque their chance to make a statement. I saw a chance to try the brand and drive a beautiful machine. That advertising talk about BMW being a drivers car? true. All true.

Not as true as it is for the MX5, known stateside as Miata. That is the most driver friendly vehicle I’ve ever had. It even beat out the Triumph, which was a ten. Miata happens to be more reliable, very comfortable, and pretty much without flaw. So no, I didn’t buy one for any other reason than to return at last to the enjoyment of sports cars once the nest emptied.

The thing I like about getting cars I personally like rather than one that some expert wants to assign me is the same thing I like about eating the foods that suit me.

Sure, you may like your vegetables limp and salty. I don’t. You go ahead.

And you may like your Smart car or Town Car. Good! For better or worse, I’m driving something else.