My first car was a 1991 Dodge Spirit (base model, not the
R/T), which had formerly belonged to a deceased family member. It was handed down to me when I got my license in 2002; it was a glorified
K-car, being a bit larger (and more rounded) than the Dodge Aries which had preceded it, and with a V6 engine under the hood which gave it a lot of 'pep'. I eventually found that if I tried to go much faster than 95MPH, it would start shaking violently like a jackhammer.
In my first year of driving, it suffered the usual ills of a new driver, including a couple of nasty accidents, but it soldiered on. At one point, I thought the infamous "
A-Sick-Oh-Four" automatic transmission might be failing, but it instead turned out to be bad motor mounts. I drove it around for three years until my mother handed me down her old 1996 Chrysler Concorde, and the Spirit was retired. The Concorde was much more luxurious, but turned out to be an utter lemon, and itself was put out to pasture after a mere six months. I tried to bring the Spirit out of retirement, but one of the fuel lines had failed, and it eventually ended up being donated.
Here is a photo of it from after its retirement, showing its various dents and dings (not to mention hubcaps 'borrowed' from a Mercury Tracer):
