Buying My BMW

In my life I’ve experienced ups and downs, been rich and poor, lived in many places, and traveled further than other old ladies living in this retirement home. My biggest adventure was in 1983, when I sold my house in Illinois and went to Europe for six months.

Before I left I talked to my ex-husband about buying a car. Wallace and I were still friends – I thought – and I am no expert on cars. He came over to the house, and, as he sat stiffly on a chair in the living room, I showed him a booklet with all the cars available for delivery in Europe.

He flipped through the pages of the catalog. I said, “I’m thinking of buying a Volkswagen. The cheapest is $14,000.”

Wallace said, “Look at this! You can buy a BMW for $15,000. They have the best resale value. That’s what you should do.”

The day I closed on the house, I took the check to the bank and then drove directly to the BMW dealer in Elmhurst, Illinois, where I wrote a check and signed a contract to for a 318i, a new model and the smallest car BMW made.

The salesman said, “Go to the factory in Munich on August 21. Show your passport, and they will hand you the keys to your car.”

That’s exactly what happened.

I drove my new BMW over 9,000 miles from Germany through Austria, Hungary, Greece, Yugoslavia, Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, then up to Belgium and the Netherlands before taking it to the ship in Antwerp.

After coming home, I took my car to be serviced at the BMW dealer in Fort Worth. In the showroom I saw an identical car – same year, same model 318i – with a sticker price of $22,000.

The car was a bargain. My problem was I had no job and no money. Wallace tried to forget he ever knew me. He felt no obligation to me for the twenty-seven years we were married.

I could not afford even an efficiency apartment in DuPage County, Illinois. I moved to Albuquerque, and for three years, while entangled in a lawsuit to obtain support, I drove thousands of miles on the interstate highways between New Mexico and Illinois.

I made that exhausting trip dozens of times. I never worried driving across country alone. I couldn’t depend on Wallace, but I had a reliable car.