I am not in the market for a car right now.

I have a 2019 Buick Encore with about 10,000 miles and a 2014 Chevrolet Equinox with about 75,000 miles on the odometer.

The best part of these two cars is they are fully paid for.

I have never been a real car enthusiast. I like cars that don’t break down, run well and get me from here to there with minimal trouble and expense.

The cars I have owned are a 1965 Ford Falcon; 1967 Ford Custom; a 1973 Volkswagen Super Beetle, a Pontiac Sunbird (I don’t remember what year), a 1980 Oldsmobile Omega, a 1986 Pontiac 6000, a 1990 Mercury Tracer, a 1995 Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera, 1999 Chevrolet Malibu; a 2008 Chrysler PT Cruiser, a 2011 Chevrolet Equinox, a 2014 Chevrolet Equinox and the 2019 Buick Encore.

1965 Ford Falcon

This was my first car and I got it used when I was 16 years old. It had retread tires (remember those?). It had a six-cylinder engine with a three-speed manual transmission. I blew the clutch out in just a few months. It was canary yellow and I loved that car. I should have never sold it.

1967 Ford Custom

My brother owned this car and he wanted to get rid of it, so I bought it from him. It was a blue two-door with an eight-cylinder engine with a “three on the tree” transmission. My brother put a glasspack muffler on it and it was so noisy, I got pulled over a couple of times and told by the police to replace the muffler. This is the car I drove to college in at The University of Oklahoma.

1973 Volkswagen Super Beetle

I bought this wonderful little car for $2,000 in 1976 (with only 7,000 miles on it) and sold it in 1996 for $2,000. That was by far the best car deal I ever made. I might still have that car except we had three kids and we needed both cars to have four doors. I should have never sold it.

Pontiac Sunbird

This was my wife’s car when we got married and we didn’t have it for long.

1980 Oldsmobile Omega

I really liked this car. It was more luxurious than any car I had ever owned. It drove like a dream and was a great road car. We bought it used. General Motors stopped making Oldsmobile in 2004.

1986 Pontiac 6000

We bought this used car back we had started the Glenpool Post newspaper in Glenpool. It had a six-cylinder motor but it was not a big car. It had lots of git-up-and-go. We drove to Florida on vacation once and it had some engine problems, so I gave up on Pontiacs. Pontiac was discontinued by General Motors in 2010 and that left GM with just Chevy, Buick, Cadillac and GMC.

1990 Mercury Tracer

This was the first new car I ever purchased. It was a compact that got great mileage. Back then, most Mercury cars were really better built versions of Ford. The Tracer was similar to the very popular Ford Escort. Our Tracer got an amazing 40 miles per gallon on the highway.

1995 Oldsmobile Cutlass

This was a great ,good-sized car that I bought brand new for $13,000. It rode like a dream and we took it on cross country trips with no problems. I thought that this would be the only kind of car that I would ever buy again and then they stopped making them in 1996.

1999 Chevy Malibu

I was a Ford man from a Ford family but this was my first Chevy. Our mechanic, Dan McClearan of Dan’s Auto Electric, only works on GM products and so we opted for a brand new Malibu. It was a pretty good car.

2008 Chrysler PT Cruiser

In 2010, we had two cars each with more than 160,000 miles on them. Thanks to some help from the in-laws, I purchased this used, fire engine red PT Cruiser with only 17,000 mile on it for a song and a dance. It was a great little car that I loved to drive. But we had to have some engine work done to it and we later sold it. I won’t buy a Chrysler again.

2011 Chevy Equinox

We needed a bigger car to help with our business and the Equinox was the perfect blend of efficiency, roominess and value.

2014 Chevy Equinox

We liked our first Equinox so much, we bought a second one and sold the 2011 to our son. Cars cost so much now and we got some great deals by buying a new model after the latest models were introduced.

2019 Buick Encore

I have always wanted a Buick and now we have one. This is a compact SUV with lots of room in the front seat, great gas mileage and a sporty look. I love driving this car – in the city and on the road.

I may buy only Buicks from now on. That is, of course, if GM keeps making them.