1. 1987 Camaro Z28 - New. Fun car for an automatic, and it was in great condition the day it was stolen out of a parking garage in Southfield, MI, in 1999. My second car; the first was an Oldsmobile Delta 88 diesel station wagon of my parents'. The Camaro was wonderful until my little sister let me drive her Vette for a week on my honeymoon. Then the Camaro felt like crap. Grr.

2. 1995 Ford Taurus - Leased, nice family car for as long as we had it.

3. 1997 Ford Taurus - Leased, very solid car. This was the first unibody version as I remember. Never had a problem with it. Very comfortable family car.

4. 1999 Ford Windstar - New. 125K miles. Still running, pretty good on repairs, other than the rust. Oh, the rust. We brought it in to get the windshield repaired, and on the way out of the lot the vehicle starting making a very distressed crunching noise going around the corner. Brought it immediately back. "Oh, it appears that the engine mount has rusted through." Ugh. The driver's side doors are rusting all along the bottom as well. Lots of little issues with this vehicle apart from the rust: freaky interior lights, broken door lock actuators, sticky sliding doors, and so on, but nothing huge. I won't buy another.

5. 1989 Ford Mustang LX - Used. Bought to replace the Camaro. This is a built for the quarter mile car: headers, K&N filter, no cats, 4.55 rear end, flowmaster exhaust. 1st gear is good for 15mph, if you still have any tires left. My first and only manual transmission car. Terrible in the winter; at one point I was putting cardboard in front of part of the radiator to get the heat to work (racing thermostat). The car bought me a nice set of tickets during a 15-second period of extremely poor judgment (managed to pass, doing 70 in a 45, an unmarked police car that had just cut me off). Currently this car is sitting in the garage, because it was replaced with:

6. 1999 Ford Taurus VOHC - Used. Nice car... quick, roomy, decent handling for a sedan. Bought from the neighbor with 30K on it, driven only by his wife. I was sick of driving the Mustang in the winter, and we needed something more practical because of our second child's arrival. At 50K on the odometer, the engine seized. I was driving into work and, in order, the oil light, temp light, and check engine light went on within a few seconds of each other. Then the engine went off forever. According to some research an interested neighbor kid did, these things were known for that. Sheesh. I will not buy another Ford at this point. Replaced by:

7. 1997 Audi A8 - Used. Yes, the famously in-the-shop A8. Still expensive, still in the shop occasionally, and still a very nice, comfortable, sporty, roomy, well-handling car - 145K on it now. Although the other arm rest just fell off (the '97s were famous for this problem). I will probably keep this car until it falls apart (10 years from now! Or more! Do you hear me, car??) Mileage: 20/28. However, I live 3 miles from work, and I fill the thing up once every 2 months. I reckon that's not bad a'tall.

When it's time to replace the van, we'll probably get a Honda Odyssey.

Edit: what happened to the rest of the Mustang comments...?