Benefits of Driving an Old Vehicle

So it's time to get a new car, and while your eyes say "Brand-new and shiny", your budget says "Let's try for four wheels and a motor." Before you get discouraged, think about the benefits of driving a car with a little bit of history behind it-a hooptie, if you will.

Driving a hooptie can be great for improving your critical thinking skills. Your mind can get a real workout simply by trying to determine under what conditions your radio will work. Make a list of all the times and conditions under which you can listen to music in your hooptie, and then analyze the data. (A good time to do this would be while you're letting the radiator cool down in rush-hour traffic.) You may come to realize that the radio works in the rain and wind, but not in just rain or just wind, unless it's raining, more than seventy-three degrees out, and you're going around a left turn. This information will lead you being able to exercise your scientific thinking skills, as you try and figure out exactly why the radio works that way.

Driving a hooptie will help you to plan your time and activities wisely. If your windshield wipers only work on low, you will get in the habit of checking the weather forecast frequently so you can plan your trips to coincide with fair weather. Soon you will be able to read the clouds, measure humidity on the tip of your tongue, and predict a rainstorm with as much accuracy as any old shaman. If your reverse lights only work intermittently, you will become adept at remembering just when the sun is supposed to go down, and which businesses have parking lots that don't require you to back out of a space as you leave.