My 1995 Dodge Neon (Green)

This was by far one of my favorite cars.

I was living upstate NY at the time, and finally got my license back: I needed a ride.  I had been looking around and I think it was my good friend Tom Falco who found the car online at Colonie (sp?) Chevrolet.  It was $10k, which was my biggest asset to date and the most I had ever financed before...  Anxiety!

The Neon was used, green, four-door, automatic, and had a third-party sunroof.  It came with a 6-Disc CD changer mounted in the trunk, controlled by a remote.  I looked funny, all 6'3" of me stuffed behind the steering wheel, my knees 3 and 9 on the steering wheel.  I had plans for the neon!  I installed under-dash neon lighting!

I made many road trips in the neon; NY to MI and back, NY to Montreal and back, and NY to VA.

I drove down to VA to report to my next duty station, the USS Enterprise.  The Enterprise was out at sea, so I was in a holding pattern at TPU (Transient Personnel Unit) on NOB Norfolk: I wasn't there but three days when I got in my first accident ever!  I was at the corner of Piercy and Bainbridge, about to cross the intersection.  I looked to the right: no traffic.  I looked to the left: one car far off.  Now at the time, NOB was an open base: you could drive right off the freeway and on base without stopping for an ID check or anything, but I knew the speed limit on base was 25mph, so I was not concerned about the far off car.  However, by the time I glanced back right and put my foot on the accelerator, the car was right in front of me!  I hit the car in it's right rear passenger door, sending the car spinning.  It landed on the median, with a broken rear axle about 30 yards further down the road it was travelling.  My bumper fell off one side and rattled on the ground as I slowly rolled through the intersection, dazed by what had just happened, before I came to a stop by the other side's sidewalk.