The Honda
1997 Honda Civic LX, with about 55K miles for $5400. A previous owner went through a little trouble putting mods into it, such as a thumpy exhaust system, a racing spoiler, LEDs to illuminate the domes that shoot out the windshield fluid, custom headlights, and larger speakers in the back. Grace can now drive down Flatbush booming Eminem. Yes, the car is painted black, with window tints. More usefully, there’s a car alarm, which, with Grace’s AMSA membership, cut down the insurance from Geico to about $715/year total (no collision, though we should consider getting it, since it’s a bit more valuable than the junk $1200 Volvo we looked at).
We’ll probably cut the electrical wire that powers the LEDs and maybe put in a quieter exhaust system (imagine: a muffler that muffles), as well as take off the spoiler. Not much that can be done with the tinting, the headlights should be fine, and I vaguely want to see “8 Mile”.
Kelly Blue Book, Ebay Motors and cars.com suggest that we got a good deal, with most Civic LXs of that vintage going for about $1000 more. To think, we almost picked up a used 1998 Kia over the weekend. My brother says that the Kia would have depreciated into nothingness within about two years.
A couple of minor problems with the car: they muffed the custom headlights installation, and probably shorted out the left low-beam. This was fixed by Dad once he realized that it was only the fuse that was blown, and not a problem with the wiring. A problem with the stereo cutting out is probably similar: DIY wiring gone bad.