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1988The Roberts Car Curse1984
**updated 9/02/07 5:17pm**

Read other people's car curse stories!!


Hello! Welcome to our website!

This is the true story of how, like so many others, we have been a slave to our cars. Our luck with cars has been quite humorous and even 'movie worthy' (I've debated on selling the rights!). Even with being faithful about oil changes and yearly tune ups, without fail, every car we have ever owned has caused us a problem. Oh yes, this is not just a sarcastic comment to catch your attention, this is the honest truth.  

First, a little about us.




This is my husband ---> Roberts  <-- and this is me.

Together we have two little girls:
Princess #1(Peat) --->girls<--- Princess #2 (Re-peat)

Don't let their cute smiles fool you. They can turn a room upside down in under 20 seconds flat!  

We live a jump, hop and a skip across the river from Portland, Oregon. My husband and I both have jobs.  He leaves for work at 3am. The buses around here do not run that early. Quite frankly, no human should run that early!  Right after work, he goes to school and comes home, only to hand me the keys so I can go to work. Come this fall, I will also be in school (woohoo!).

The following is a short, yet strangely detailed account of the 17 cars owned and driven by the Roberts and our quest to get a new car with the help of the Internet!  

Let's start at the beginning, with my first car...

Supra1980 Toyota Supra (2 door) - This was a great first car; sassy, sporty, and it was already dented so no one would know if I got in another accident! The heater didn't work, but who cares! I was in High School, and it was fast! This car kept going and going! That is, until that fateful day I was taking a drive to see my friends in Salem, Oregon. Ok, I'm stretching the truth – I wasn't just taking a drive, it was more like I was competing in a NASCAR race – I was RACIN' BABY! Suddenly, as I was rounding turn three and on the home stretch to the checkered flag, smoke filled the car! Engine blew. Just a hair below 300k miles, too. After the mechanic stared under the hood in a shocked gaze, he mumbled, "Jesus couldn't raise this from the dead." I took that as a hint to buy a new car. We never did make it to my friends house that night.

So off I went to purchase a car from a dealership.

Integra1988 Acura Integra (4 door) – This car was also sporty, but cute and comfy, too! When I brought it to get new tags, it wouldn't pass D.E.Q... Of course! I brought it back to the dealership which it was bought from, and they kept it for 2 weeks while trying to 'fix it'. Once it was fixed and they had returned it to me, I started to notice a weird smell. I finally reached in the back and felt around on the floor. Oh yes, you guessed it – water. The entire back seat was covered in mold! They had left the window down and it rained. Keep in mind this is Portland, Oregon – so when I say rained I really mean nothing short of a tropical storm. When I brought it back to them a second time, they decided to get me another car, which brings us to number three...


Escort1999 Ford Escort (4 door) -
I never liked this car because I felt like I was swindled into buying it, but I kept it for a couple years anyway. To make myself feel better about the situation I just swore at it under my breath every time I got in. After being sent into bed rest early on in my pregnancy with our first girl, we could no longer afford this car so we decided to get rid of it. My sister borrowed it one last time and returned it with a broken bumper and dragging muffler. I distinctly remember hearing the Alleluia Chorus as it drove away. It could have been the sparks from the muffler connecting with the road, but I thought I saw angels, too.


1984 Honda Civic (4 door) –
This was a great little family car we purchased from my sister, who purchased it from our other sister, who purchased it from our Mom. Huh. I just realized that we have had a lot of “family owned” cars. We put $900.00 into fixing and tuning this car so it ran right. Five days after the check cleared, it just stopped working. So there it sat. Next you ask? OK!

Taurus1994 Ford Taurus Wagon (4 doors + hatchback) –
This car was 'THE' car. I even named it! Willamina Wally Wagon ran so well and she was very roomy. I think I loved it so much because it reminded me of our Wally Wagon from when we were little. That 1979 Station Wagon could fit all of us plus 15 or so of our closest friends. Huge “first class” clothes seats, electric windows, electric seats, and last but not least an 8-track player! Ahh memories.... Anyway, I knew that Willamina was going to be with us forever, I just knew it! Enter Curse. Willamina tried to harm us!!! The driver's side door flew open while driving and wouldn't ever stay shut again. The engine started to overheat and then the a/c went out. We decided to get a new car, and that is when Willamina left us. Can we please have a moment of silence for Willa? *sniff*

20012001 Ford Taurus (4 door) -
Semi vs Car.


1989 Acura Legend (2 door) -
this was my sister's car (see, there it is again!) that we 'babysat' until it sold. Oh baby it was a fun, fast little car! Red with a sunroof and OH so slick! We were sad to see it go.

1986 Nissan Sentra (4 door) –
Ok, this car was just funny! You couldn't help but laugh when you drove in the 'bumpity bump' car. We never knew what was wrong with it, but the faster you went, the higher it bounced! If we could see the slightest bump in the road ahead, we went into a frenzy to find something solid to hang onto because we didn't want to bump our heads again! After getting motion sickness one to many times driving to Walmart, it was time to say good bye when the last 'oh crap' handle broke off. Thinking back, that would have been a “sweet ride” in High School.

Mirage1993 Mitsubishi Mirage (2 door) -
This was my Husband's car that he brought into the marriage. It, by far, lasted the longest. Three months after we got married, the engine blew while in the middle of no where, leave my husband stranded for several hours. It sat at the mechanics for nine months, until we saved up enough for a new engine. The new engine lasted us 3 years. Then, one day, 7 months pregnant with #2, #1 and I were driving to an appointment, and the engine blew out on the freeway. So there we were... in the rain... with no cell phone... and no one stopped. Stranded. This, you will find, tends to happen to us more then the average family! We towed it to the mechanic where the verdict came in rather quickly: We needed another engine. We paid them $35.00 to “take it off our hands.” Oh yes, you read that correctly, we paid them.


1993 Mercury Tracer (4 door) –
We borrowed this bad boy from my cousin. We were seriously thinking about making it a permanent member of the Robert's clan, but something about automatic seatbelts made us feel like we were stepping into an episode of “The Twilight Zone.”

1993 Ford Taurus (4 door) –
I really feel like we were destined to buy this car just so we could really discover what the word 
L E M O N really meant. Sold it 4 weeks later.

1984 Toyota 4-Runner (2 door)4-runner 
This fantastic car will always be near and dear to my heart. I have 4 sisters and all of us had driven it at one time or another. I like to think of it as our “bail me out” vehicle. After numerous trips from Washington to Iowa and Utah, we became the proud owners. Please keep in mind our firm policy for all of our cars is if we can't afford to buy a new car, our current car needs FULL COVERAGE. 

The following story is NON-FICTION... this stuff is just too good to have made up! 

After only a couple mild incidences (brakes going out, blown tire, broke down on the side of the highway... stuff like that) our Roberts Car Curse came back. The car was stolen then promptly found two weeks later. The insurance paid over $4,000 to fix it up, not including the 2 months for a rental car. Well, we didn't even have the car long enough to enjoy the “newly fixed smell” when the car was stolen, AGAIN. Then found, AGAIN. Our insurance company informed us the thefts were “suspiciously close together” and took our comprehensive off, so we switched to Geico! GO GECKO! Three months later, 4-Runner had a mild heart attack and was waiting to be taken off life support. We accepted it and planned the funeral, but another close family member just could not deal with it and paid to fix it.... AGAIN. Then after a couple months of hanging on just to please us... you guessed it... it died. WAIT! I'm not done! It got fixed! AGAIN! Then... died... AGAIN. This time, our beautiful, faithful, manual SUV was done. We listed our gas hog of a sweet ride on Craigslist and it was gone in 24 hours.

1997 Volkswagen Passat (4 door) –
If the 4-Runner was sweet, this car was down right SMOKIN'. Deep green, tinted windows, leather interior, sunroof, low miles, V6 engine - LOADED! We bought it from my sister, in mint condition, when they moved to Japan with the Air Force. Oh we were SO lucky to have such a nice car... FINALLY! What's that? The Roberts Car Curse? OH! Ya... almost forgot! With in one month of owning it, the window motors went out. Yes, I said motors, plural. Not one, but TWO! The tinted windows went down, but not back up. Then the a/c went out, but that was Ok! Summer was almost done, anyway! Then perhaps on the coldest day of winter, the heater stopped working. That was ok, too! We just bundled up really well and drove to church, our teeth chattering to the rhythms of Ricky Martin and Enrique Iglesias. Ya... then it developed a hole in the heater core. Oh, it was pathetic. The poor car was just so sad it's owners had moved to Japan it decided to take its anger and frustration out on us. After Prozac didn't work, we had to say good bye to this baby, also. My sister cried when I called to tell her the news.


20052005 Ford Taurus (4 door) -
We bought this car after the Passat was admitted. Great car, bad loan. Then my husband broke his foot and was off of work for 3 months. Shorty after that, he decided it was time to grow up and go to College –*Insert HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY song *HERE*. In an effort to cut down on bills, we gave the car back. Money for school doesn't grow on trees, ya know!

Which brings up until a few weeks ago.....

1996 Ford Aspire (2 door) -aspire
This has been our only car for the last year. Fantastic gas mileage. We kept it up and took care of this car. PAID OFF!!! GREAT gas mileage. PAID OFF!!! Then.. a few weeks ago, something happen. Something with the transmission / differential was wrong with our  PAID OFF car. For those of you who know cars, you probably already figured out that the transmission costs A LOT of money to fix, and it wasn't worth it anyway.

1985 Subaru GL (4 door) -  subaruThe legend of The Beast goes back a long time... before any of us could even pick up a baseball.... ok, well, maybe not THAT far back... a few days ago, actually.  After realizing we couldn't rent a car forever, we bought this car shortly after we started this website, for $400 (beats paying for a rental!), fully knowing that it is driving on borrowed time. It earned the name, "THE BEAST",  after arriving. You can hear it coming for miles around, it's great!! As long as we keep oil in it every other day, don't go up any inclines and remember to lock each door individually, we are good to go! 

**UPDATE**... The Beast... is no longer running. We aren't surprised.   So we went to craigslist, and found a different car... introducing...

1989 Chrysler New Yorker Landau (4 door) - NewYorker  *sigh*  I don't want to talk about it.

So there you have it, the true story of the 17 cars that have come and gone from our care.

We hope that you have enjoyed reading about

"The Roberts Car Curse."




Life is too short not to laugh!

We would love for you to pass this on so others may enjoy it to!

Now if you are wondering, "Well, shoot, I want to help! but HOW?" 

If, beyond passing this along, you feel you would like to help, we would love it! 
We are trying to raise $3,000 to get a decent car.  If 3,000 people donate $1, we would be there!


$0,281.88 donated

Thank you!

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