Steve Russell: Why buying a car will always be a big deal to me

Rez cars have changed since “the computer” became known as a necessary car part. Cars that die in the electronic sense are harder to resurrect, but I have to admit that these modern cars make good-looking corpses. Primer paint is what it is, and I still see enough of it on my grandkids’ rides to remember those days of bubble gum and baling wire.

There was the time my transmission linkage broke and I managed to install a floor shifter backwards, making my car hard to steal because first gear was in fact reverse. There was the radio added on by a previous owner that would periodically catch fire but I could not figure out the bird’s nest of wires he left for me. There was the Oldsmobile for which I could not manage to get four old tires of the same size and I could not afford new tires.

There was the semester in law school when my battery died and I had to show up early every day to park on the hill that allowed me to start it. I would not buy a car battery in a semester when I could not afford textbooks. That Ford would have been at home on any rez. When I graduated and got a car loan based on my law degree, that car got donated to the United Farm Workers. While I meant well in the donation, I was as shocked as anybody when they decided to drive it to California...and it arrived.

I won’t lie and claim I don’t enjoy being able to buy cars new since I graduated. Given my life experiences, though, buying a car will always be a big deal.