I too had to buy my first car- my 78 Scirocco cost $380 and I spent a year and a half bringing her back to life (replacing shocks, spring, brakes....). Then he died about 2 weeks into being on the road- apparently there was more rust under there than we realized. I was on my way to take my SATs and hit a larger bump and there was this weird rubbing noise- turns out the only thing hold the left rear wheel onto the car anymore was the wheelwell. Poor Hobbes.

Then I found my little red 1987 16V. She was called the Millenium Falcon because she had electrical issues and didn't reliably start. Just like Han trying to kick in the hyperdrive! 16V was only made for 5 yrs and was rather rare, so parts got expensive and she started hitting the wall after 130k miles.

Then I found a 1985 silver 8V in really good shape. She was named Spoons and had hardly a problem. Had to sell her when I needed a bigger car to move to CA.

Maybe someday I'll get another 16V and get into SCCA racing like my bro... As much as I'm excited to see the 2009, I need more than 2 doors these days.