
The Cavalier huffed and puffed its gas-choked way into the car lot and sputtered its last gas(p). Recoiling in disbelief, the nice man at Carmax made an offer of $905 for a car with a water pump leak, electrical issues (windows wouldn't roll up or down), and... well, you get the picture. And, so, being a slightly bit more motivated to buy than I was, we came to a mutual understanding: I bought the 2002 Honda Accord Special Edition (black body, black interior) and made a bee-line for the highway before they had a chance to take a second look at the Cavalier.

My father would never buy anything but an "American" car. He had gone to Detroit to work on a (GM?) assembly line in the 1960s for serveral weeks during a protracted Western Electric work stoppage. My Honda is an "American" car - built in the USA. Surprisingly.

Yeah - it's a 2002. Getting "old". But,to re-assign an old NBC quote: "if you haven't driven it, it's new to you."