New Car - Tremendous Mistake

Probably our first really stupid car deal.  unfortunately, not our last. In June of ‘69 I had just graduated from Rice and doubled my monthly salary. We felt like we were flush with money. Our trusty blue Plymouth Valiant was only three years old. Unfortunately it was unairconditioned, less than ideal for Houston Summers,

Instead of putting an aftermarket air conditioner in the Valiant, we bought a new car and submerged ourselves in debt.  This was a flashy car, red with white interior.  It had a 273 V8 and an automatic tranny.  It was an ok car with constant maintenance required to keep it running.   I think this was characteristic of all of the cars that ran on leaded fuel with carburetors and non-electronic ignition.    This car had a glass backlite in the convertible top.   At one point I lowered the top onto Britany’s car seat’s safety bar and shattered the window.  A new glass window seemed to be half the price of the car. We had a body shop put a flexible plastic window in. This car cost a little over $3000.

If only we had had an indoctrination into the principles that Dave Ramsey pedals. We probably could have either air conditioned the Valiant or traded it for a less flashy one with a working air conditioner.

Of course, working air conditioner was a challenge in this era. They were Rube Goldberg affairs poorly integrated into the cars of that day. Most awful was the reciprocating compressor with a clutch that was so obvious that it was obnoxious. Cars today are so much better.