Ah, vehicles. The biggest screwed up part of my existence. I'm a new car ***** and have paid out the butt for it.

Well...

1994 Chevy Beretta
My first car...was hell-bent on having a new car, so I convinced Dad to co-sign and bought it when I was 16. Dumbest thing I've ever done, because I've worked like a mule and had a car payment ever since. LOL

1996 Chevy S-10 Extended Cab 2WD
Decided that it was really hard to fish out of a 2-door car, so traded the car to a little truck. Not bad, had the 4.3L Vortec and pulled a little Bass Tracker with it. We had some good times. I flooded it on a boat ramp at Green River once and it never quite smelled right after that. In 99 it got vandalized in the parking lot at work...broke all glass, dented just about every body panel, sliced up all the seats, tore out the dash/electronics, slashed all tires, busted all lights...a real mess. I always suspected that it was the recent ex-boyfriend of a girl I was "associating with" at the time.

1999 Ford Mustang GT (35th Anniversary Edition)
Apparently at this point, impressing girls in college became more important than having something to put my fishing rods in the back of. This car was smokin hot...silver...a real beauty. I took my wife on our first date in this car. I also got my first speeding ticket in this car, ignorantly...racing a guy on the Bluegrass Parkway in Bardstown. Clocked at 120, ticket issued for 79 by the nicest Trooper I've ever met. We talked Mustangs for about 15 minutes before he abruptly changed the subject and reminded me that he could take me to jail. Nice guy. Big gun.

1994 GMC Work Truck 1500 Regular Cab 2WD
It took about 2 months with the Stang before I realized that it sure sucked not having a truck. Bought this truck for a song...it was rough, but it ran good and hauled crap. It had big air compressors in the back in a previous life, so it had these heavy duty leaf springs in the back that pointed the tail towards Mars when it was empty.

2000 Dodge Dakota SLT Regular Cab 4WD
Got married, moved into a tiny little house, didn't have room for Mustang, Truck, and her car...so I traded the Stang and the GMC to a new truck. Spent 4 years in this one. It was a good truck. I installed a grille guard on a Friday night after work, then proceeded to rear-end an illegal alien in a Nissan Altima who had no insurance on Saturday morning...she stopped for no reason in the middle of Man-O-War and I put her trunk into her backseat. "No Policia, No Policia" is all she could say. Yeeeeeeah, I don't think so.

2004 Dodge Ram SLT Quad Cab 4WD
Upsized to a full-sizer when the Dakota was paid off. "The Cowboy Cadillac Chrome Phase"...I hung enough chrome on this one to blind most folks. The city came and removed the lights on our street because they weren't necessary as long as I was home. Lifted, loud exhaust, big wheels and tires...completely turned the thing into an obnoxious DOG. I was running the truck accessory division of our company at the time, so it was like a playground for me. It would pass everything but a gas station, because it was the 4.7L (small) V8. Had zero power by the time I got done with it.

2005 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo 4WD
Traded the Dodge to a modest, respectable, yuppie-fied SUV that I was unable to modify, thinking that would prevent me from turning it into a rolling carnival like my Dodge Ram. I still found ways to screw it up. Black wheels, step bars, grille guard, roof basket, tail lamp guards...then yanked all that crap off one day and just put 20" chrome wheels on it. Identity crisis. Decided that SUVs are the work of the devil and unloaded it to a dude that had just come back from a tour in Iraq and liked it, for some reason.

2006 Ford F150 FX4 SuperCab 4WD
Sweet truck...lifted the front end, air shocks on the rear, fender flares, big wheels and tires, exhaust, air intake, tuning, and a bunch of other accessories...which proved that I learned absolutely nothing from my Dodge Ram debacle. This one had no chrome though, it was all black and silver. Looked pretty dang good - Some of my best work.

2010 Ford Mustang GT Premium
Early midlife crisis, I guess. Decided that I just had to have another Mustang, so traded the F150 to "Candy"...She was Candy Red Metallic, loaded up. Put lowering suspension on it, exhaust, tuning. Loved it. I think I would have married it if my wife wasn't in the picture.

2010 Ford F150 SuperCrew Lariat 4WD
Did I mention that Mustangs really **** in the winter? Did I mention that I travel with work a bit...sometimes in the mountains of WV. Hmmph. I didn't think that one out too well did I? Also, I was told that it was time for me to start givin up the lovin and have a baby with my wife. SO, I flipped the Stang to a dealer up in Indiana who had this slightly used F150 that I loved...5K miles on it...a HUGE discount off what it stickered for new 9 months prior. In 17 years, 3 months, 2 days, 7 hours, and 16 minutes it will be paid off. Just in time for the kid to head to college. In the meantime, I have raised the front end ever so slightly, added some slightly bigger/more aggressive tires (nothing crazy), and a bed cover on the back. That's it. Done. No more.

I'm done with new vehicles and have every intention of driving this one until it falls apart on the highway...which means I'll probably trade it in about 3 years to a Ferarri or something.