Melville family cars

My family has had a fair amount of cars, especially since my dad likes having multiple cars. So I'm going to remember the ones we've had.

The gold Subaru. We had a gold Subaru when I was very young. I remember being able to see the road through a hole in the door. I can remember seeing a McDonald's napkin with multicolored M's on it, and there was a certain news sound I would hear on KSL that I always associate with the car. We got rid of this car in 1994 or 1995.

The Eagle. We had a car called an Eagle (apparently a Chrysler), and it was small (only a two-door), so we called it the "Eaglet." I can remember riding in it to our church for a Wednesday evening activity, and there were ginger snaps in the back, since my dad drove it to work. When I was seven or eight, my family wanted to sell it, so I made a "For Sale" sign with a green marker on a yellow piece of construction paper. It said "300$," and I remember my dad saying it wasn't selling because it looked like "3000." One time, we got a call asking about the car, and they asked for directions, so I said, "You're at the bottom of the hill, and then you go up..." and explained the way to our house, only in our neighborhood. The directions weren't helpful, but what could I do, since my mom was in the bathtub? Eventually, we sold it to a guy whose name was Markland, which was also the name of a fictional world I made up. A few weeks later, we got a call, because we hadn't removed the license plates, and Mr. Markland was apparently a homeless man living out of his car.

The Thunderbird. We got a brown Thunderbird, or T-bird, from my dad's parents when I was about five, and I was excited that it had a little ledge in front of the rear window where I could lie down. It only came with four seatbelts, so my dad bought another one for the middle seat in the back. My mom thought it was weird he bought a blue seatbelt when everything else was brown. We didn't have it very long before my dad totaled it by hitting an elk on his way to work in Park City. He was OK, but a little cut up.

The Mercury Marquis. We had a white station wagon with a blue interior. I was told it was a "Marquis," which sounded similar to my nickname, Marky. In 1996 (I think), my newly driving sister totaled it because she turned left in front of a car that didn't stop at a red light. One piece that was salvaged from the car was the little plastic "Marquis," which I kept on my bedroom door for years.

The blue Subaru Legacy. After we got rid of the gold Subaru, when I was six, we got a blue Legacy. I remember going to a special meeting for new car owners with my parents. They had a children's area where kids could play and get hot dogs, but I wanted to stay with my parents. I was content just holding my Valentine bear. My mom didn't like that the rear windows didn't roll down completely. In that vehicle, all five of us drove across the country to Washington, DC, and New York. One spring day in 2000, I think my mom was helping her friend's son Jake, and I was playing outside. My mom had to leave because she got a call that David had rolled the car, which he had dubbed Bertha. He was miraculously safe, but that was the end of that car.

The second station wagon. We got a very similar station wagon in 1995 to the one Susanne totaled, but I don't know if it was the same. It had a red interior instead of blue. I remember going with my mom when she bought it from the previous owners; they were talking about some Hispanic people who had stolen their car. That was the first time in my life I heard the word "Hispanic." I found a Donald Duck pen in the car, and I thought it belonged to the previous owners, but apparently it was ours. In 1999, David was at his girlfriend's house, and the car was parked on the street, and a teenage girl crashed into it and totaled it.

The Jeep Cherokee. In 1995 or 1996, my parents got a red Jeep, since my dad's family always had red Jeeps. The first night we rode in it, we stopped by my mom's friend Jackie's house, and I think we went to Smith's and got donuts. In 2003, when we got our Suburban, we sold the Jeep to my uncle Mike. I think he later wrecked it.

The Mercury Tracer. In 1999, after our second white car was totaled, my parents bought a 1994 Mercury Tracer. (I remember it was a 1994 because my friend Brad Rogers saw the tag on the keys that said "Used 1994" and thought it said "1999" and wondered how that was possible.) I think its official color was "Fiesta Red," but one of the documents called it "Hot Pink." It was definitely not hot pink, but it became known as the pink car. It had squealing brakes, so my dad suggested naming it Pig, since it was pink and squealed. Because of the brakes and the faulty automatic seatbelt, among other problems, my family sold it in 2007, thus ending my chances of learning how to drive a stick shift.

The white Subaru Legacy.  After the blue Subaru was totaled in 2000, my parents bought a 1995 Subaru Legacy. My dad suggested naming it Ghost, since it was white and was like a better version of the blue car. It was the first car that we ever had with a CD player, so that was really exciting, and the first car we ever had with a sunroof. We still have that car. It got me through high school and college and now I drive it to work. It's still in pretty good shape, considering how old it is. (It did refuse to start on the day before Halloween, but it fixed itself.)

The Chevy Suburban. Just before Easter in 2003, with my sister pregnant and my brother recently returned from a mission, my parents decided to get a bigger vehicle for our family. I was not happy with the purchase, as I didn't think we had money for it. We still have it, and our family has actually outgrown it. It came in especially handy when all of us lived together. We have taken many trips in it to Tennessee and California.

The Ford Taurus. In 2005, when I was a new driver, my family bought a green Taurus. It came with a Christian fish with a cross for an eye (get it? cross-eyed?) on the back. My dad thought it was part of the car, thinking it was the zodiac symbol for Taurus. But we told him that Taurus was a bull, so after that we sometimes referred to the car as the Pisces. It was a good little car, but the AC didn't work. If we fixed it, it would soon quit working. I took that car to Provo during the winter so that my dad could have the 4-wheel-drive Subaru during the winter, since he had a longer commute. When the car was covered with snow, sometimes water would leak into the passenger-side floor, and there would be puddles (or ice) in the car. Tired of fixing the AC, my parents sold it to my dad's cousin's family in the summer of 2013. I really liked driving it, but the AC was a problem.

The Toyota Rav4. One August night in 2007, I was standing outside Walmart, waiting for my mom to pick me up from work. I was talking with one of the guys who worked in Customer Service, telling him my mom was picking me up. A vehicle drove up and he said, "Is that your mom?" I said no, but then the window rolled down and it was her! I drove it a few times in those last few months before my mission, and I thought the seat didn't go back far enough. But I don't know why I thought that, because it does go far enough. My mom drives that car now.

The red Mazda. In the summer of 2013, my dad got a red Mazda CX5. It had to be red because that's his favorite color and his family always had red Jeeps. I'm not exactly sure why he got it. It's a good car, except that it has a really weird smell on the inside. He usually drives it to work.

The Nissan Pathfinder. In 2009, right after I got home from my mission, my sister traded her Nissan Altima for a Pathfinder. Last summer (2014), she wanted to buy a more gas-efficient car, so she wanted to sell the Pathfinder. The dealer wouldn't buy it for a great price, so my parents decided to buy it so they can go on adventures. I didn't know that they had done that until I had moved back home and my dad mentioned something about owning five cars. We took it on a bumpy road in Capitol Reef, and I think we will use it for more similar adventures. It's not as long as the Suburban but has better clearance than the other cars. We still often keep it at my sister's house, and she still drives it if it's snowy.

We still have the white Legacy, the Suburban, the Rav, the Mazda, and the Pathfinder. My grandparents say that we should get one more car. Then we will have enough for each of us in our house to have two.