“Are you sure that was you?”

Ken, my husband, loved cars. He kept an eye out for unusual cars and he had many unique vehicles over the years.  Like all car guys, he wanted to have something that nobody else had. Among the exotic cars in his lifetime  collection was a little English Morris Minor, A P l800 Volvo, a tiny red GarmaGia convertible, a black fin- backed Cadillac, a Sunbeam Tiger convertible, and a 65 Mustang convertible and a Rover, to name a few.

He always had his work vehicle, and I had my car, first a beautiful gold and white Ford Fairlane and then a white Ford Station wagon as our family grew. However, there was always an extra beauty sitting in our carport that he was tinkering with. That was his hobby and it was fine with me; but I have to acknowledge that it took us a few years to negotiate that arrangement. Specifically, his car money had to support itself and he had to keep his “car money” in a separate account and away from our household expenses.

When I think back to the first time I put my foot down on a car purchase, I have to ask myself, ‘Was that really me?’ We were newlyweds and money had been very tight during the first few months. I had a saving account when we tied the knot. My new husband did not. But since I married a super-salesman and we were both working, I agreed to us buying  a new Black Ford Coupe on the installment loan plan at the bank where I worked.

The payments were $90.00 a month. Everything went along fine for a while and then my new husband’s work came to a halt as the building industry suffered some long strikes. We ended up using all my savings to make those car payments each month. It was a struggle but we finally did it.

Soon afterwards, he had changed jobs and was learning a new trade. He had to drive up North Central to the job, where all the used car dealers were located back then. That’s when it happened. He spotted a two-tone Ford Crestliner. He was smitten.

“You want to do what?” I whispered, in disbelief, that evening. Surely I had heard him wrong. I couldn’t believe my ears as he explained the bargain he had worked out with MONEY BAGS KLEIN, the car dealer. He wanted to trade in our new “paid for” car, on a really “neat” different car, a couple of years older.

Thinking I just didn’t understand the importance of the deal he had made, he patiently explained. “But Honey, its RED AND BLACK .and we would have the only one in town. Our payments would only be….”  I can’t remember what the amount was because at that point, I had stopped listening.

“I don’t care if it’s the only one in the whole world!” I yelled. “We are not going to give MONEY BAGS KLEIN our new, paid for, car. No, No, No!”

Over the years, our kids always enjoyed hearing that story because they thought I could never say no to their dad. They always asked again, “Are you sure that was you?”