The last new car my parents ever bought was a K car. it was a 1981 base model aries wagon 2.2 carb, 4 speed stick, it had a roof rack and i believe the a/c was dealer installed. it didn't even have a right side mirror (mopar didn't even punch mounting holes in all passenger doors until several years later so my dad drilled a hole and used an aftermarket one). color was white on blue vinyl. it replaced a 78 mustang II (not enough rear seat room for me at a year old in 1981). with depreciation what it is on new cars, my parents have purchased used ever since with good results. in november '88 they picked up an 86 aries wagon le with 2.5tbi (cream on almond) and 3 years to the month later they picked up an 88 le sedan 2.2 auto (gray on gray). the 86 had 63k on the clock (florida lease car that was shipped to a dealer in portsmouth, nh where my parents bought it) and the '88 sedan had 27k i think and was a private sale.
station wagons are popular in my family and so are suburbans. 90-91 we had the 81 and 86 k wagons and a classic 72 burb (bought in 83) and newly acquired 84 burb in the driveway. the 86 was my mom's d/d and primary family car until 1997 when i got my license. the '88 was my dad's car and beater for when we didn't need the wagon. in 98 they bought a 97 merc sable wagon (now my very rusty daily driver that still runs well with 216k on the clock) and they now have an 01 taurus wagon and picked up a 97 camry 4 cyl to fill the bill awhile after the trans crapped out in the 88 k sedan (lots of rust by that point also). he actually drove it to the junkyard under it's own power. had an accident with the 86 in fall of 99 and took 18 months fixing it, just to have the trans crap out after 3 weeks. it was a rebuilt trans but all that time sitting with the axles out may have caused the governor to gum up. kept falling out of top gear. so the car went home and sat until i could get to it (spend years tinkering, pulling the drivetrain, etc)
i bought myself a 72 suburban in pretty nice shape a couple years ago. i became smitten with them since i was 3 years and wanted a classic one like my dad's 72 (he had an 87 after the 84 and now has a 99....all our burbs have been 2wd, just mine is a 3/4 ton). now that my truck is paid off my mad money is going into resto-modding that 86 aries wagon. i'm looking at spending over $10k plus on the bodywork (rockers and floors are very bad from sitting 10 years) a lot of chassis and turbo parts i've already picked up (gonna be a 2.5 TII). she may not be fixed yet, but at least she is now sitting at the resto shop and not just collecting leaves in my parents back yard. first time she left that back yard since april 2001. never even been to my house. since i don't have a garage i will be using my parents to do the reassembly this winter while the snow flies. when the car is done she will be better than new (especially with all the hi-tech parts and improvements i'm making in the chassis and drive train department)
before i finish this long winded message, let me say i will be taking out a home equity loan to build a big garage/shop (w/ extra room a lift and parking the 40 year old famliy camper trailer also) on my property after my personal loan for the resto job is paid off. i want all my toys in out of the weather/moisture so they will last longer. my burb has held up pretty good with just a tarp over it the last couple years but i think i will double that up with a car cover under the tarp or get a temp garage for both the truck and the k car. if i get a tent garage i can put down another tarp to block the moisture coming up from underneath since there won't be snow blowing in under the truck. a dirt driveway really sucks when you have to park your cars outside. on the k car i'm having the entire undercarraige coated with 2 part poly bed liner so moisture won't be such a big problem in the short term. i asked the resto guy to do it on the top of the floorboards also (we all hate when water soaks through the carpet and rusts out the floor) and on the back side of the body panels (esp. rear quarter and roof) so they won't resonate so bad. i want this car to be quieter without adding too much weight. conventional sound insulation traps water.