FRANKENSTEIN
This was my first Honda. It's called Frankenstein for the obvious reason that it's made from the parts of many other dead cars (I know it's not very original, but I was 19). I bought it in the fall of 1993. I was getting over the loss of my Oldsmobile Toronado that stopped running, and a friend of mine owned a blue Honda accord that was really reliable, so I decided that I needed one, too. Someone I worked with had just bought a Geo Storm that she was really proud of, and wanted to get rid of her Honda because it was "embarrassing". I offered her $600, but she would only take $400 for it.
I picked it up on a rainy day, and right away realized that it had problems. The windshield wipers just smeared the rain around (one moved about two inches), the speedometer didn't work, the manual choke was problematic, it had 4 mismatched tires and 2 mismatched wheels, the heater fan blew out three 15 amp fuses in a row. The car had been owned and crashed by a long string of teenage girls. It had all of the bodywork forward of the doors replaced and painted with rattlecan paint that was close to the original color, but not really. It had the tailgate off of a 1982 Honda Accord (probably because of the cool spoiler), it had been repeatedly dinged and touched up with nail polish that actually matched better than most touch up paint. A leak that I never located filled the passenger side floorboard with about 3 inches of water whenever I drove it in the rain. Through the time that I owned it, I bought it matching wheels and beauty rings, 205/60/13 sport tires, tuned up the engine, fixed the wipers, redid the brakes, replaced the distributor and shaft, kept a 30 amp fuse in the heater fan socket, had the fuel pump rewired, replaced numerous bulbs, fixed the radiator fan, and gave it a good home. I loved this car. Chris learned how to drive stick shift in this car, and we moved her and our kids 100 miles from her house to mine. It took about 5 trips. I had countless experiences (good and bad) in this car. I really do miss it.
Shortly after I moved Chris and kids in with me, this car stopped running. We needed a new alternator and a tuneup and couldn't afford either (at this time, I didn't have the mechanical knowhow or a Chilton's guide to help me). We started using Chris's newly acquired Tercel as a daily driver and put the Honda on the back burner. Eventually, the tabs expired. Now, in order to have the most parking possible for tenants, the apartment complex where we lived required that we park any additional cars in a faraway lot. Too far away for me to notice that the car had been impounded. At first, I thought the car had been stolen, but I found out that instead my car had been sent to impound 2 weeks prior. By the time I found out, I owed the impound company 600 bucks that I didn't have, and wouldn't have for another week. The impound company told me that by then, it would be 1200 bucks. I let them have the car. Sadness. Legalized car theft. I hope the 15 to 20 bucks they got for it at auction made them happy.