Yes, it’s that time a year again, Lexus’s “December to Remember” sales event. I’m not really a Lexus fan, and these yearly commercials with the gigantic bows have become cliché. Yet I can’t help but feel that Christmas cheer when I hear this tune. It’s become one of those traditional ads, like the M&Ms for Santa or the Cheerios Baby’s First Christmas commercials, that just put you in the Christmas mood.
Every year though, I always wonder if people actually surprise others with new cars as gifts for Christmas (oversized bow included of course). Jokes aside, I’m curious, “Has anyone ever given or received a car for a gift? Any occasion, not just Christmas.
Yes.
I bought and surprised my wife with a new Saturn VUE a few years ago. Although we had to get a bigger vehicle because of all the babies we were making, she still talks about how it was her favorite vehicle and favorite gift.
Couldn’t find a bow as large as the Lexus variety, but did get a red bow to put over the windshield.
And I have also received a car for Christmas – see my earlier post today.
– (I’m still waiting for that irritating “Honda Man” year-end sales guy to show up. He looks like a Honda driver as stereotypically as Mike Rowe looks like an F-150 guy.)
Do you mean “Mr. Opportunity”?
Honda replaced him with Michael Bolton.
It is not an improvement.
Maybe they should’ve used Bolton’s ex, Nicollette Sheridan instead:
As a matter of fact, yes – yes I have.
September 21, 1977: I received a new ’77 Buick Regal Landau from my parents for my 16th birthday. I was a happy fella that day…
My first car, a ’63 Corvair Monza 4 speed was given to me by my older brother,which was quite a bit out of character 🙂 He’d paid $75 for it, the bearings were rattling from super-cheap oil he put in (soon fixed), and he was off to Greenland, so I guess it wasn’t exactly a huge sacrifice, but it certainly was appreciated.
Dad gave me my first car (the ’71 Vega). We subsequently gave our ’98 Grand Caravan to our eldest son (now has over 275,000 miles!).
My dad gave me three, for both my high school and two college graduations: A ’37 Buick Special to celebrate my actually making it out of high school, then ’73 Vega GT and a ’76 Monza 2+2 for my Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees, respectively.
And then my final gift was from my mother’s estate, an ’86 Buick Century Estate Wagon, a vehicle that I was embarrassed to be seen in, and had to be pressured to take. I always called it “Mom’s Final Indignity”.
Those late ’90s Chrysler minivans are automotive Cockroaches. Our ’00 Grand Voyager “Expresso” just refuses to fail, despite 178k on the clock and daily kid duty with little in the way of maintenance. One token trans replacement at 120k, and some real annoying electrical issues (windows) but besides brakes the thing just keeps going. Even drastically low on oil and overheating all the way back on the Interstate this summer, that old 3.8 just keeps running along and turning in impressive MPG numbers for it’s size.
Part of me wants to get rid of it, other part of me hopes it lasts another two years so I don’t have to go into car debt to replace it.
Dad gifted me his Volvo 145 wagon (plus some cash to complete the transaction). The perfect car for a hot head to calm the f$&@ down behind the wheel. It was then gifted to my younger brother (no cash exchange, drat) who learned the same road manners.
In March of 2002 my wife’s grandmother gave us her low mileage 1997 Saturn SL2. While a low optioned 5 year old Saturn doesn’t seem like that great a gift, it actually worked out pretty well since after almost 12 years and over 100,000 miles, we’re still driving it.
While they are distinctly lacking in cachet, the Saturn S series is a good candidate for cockroachdom as long you keep oil in the engine, rust out of the body.
We had a ’95 SL2 that had 200,000 miles on it when we got rid of it. Still ran great and was completely dependable.
1971 BMW 2002 “parts car” in 1981 so I could keep the 1970 one on the road. Greatly appreciated.
My Century T Type for high school graduation and my Eldorado Touring for college graduation.
My mom was the typical stay at home mom when we were growing up and never had a use for a car. I remembered my mom unwrapping the keys to a brown with cream vinyl top mid 70’s Plymouth Valiant Scamp given by my dad on Christmas in 1979. The only problem was my mom didn’t have a driver license or learner’s permit at that particular time so it mostly sat unused in the driveway. By the time my mom got her learner’s permit though my dad got to itch to sell it. She never had a chance to drive that car and my mom ended up learning how to drive and parallel park a 1969 Chevelle 396 SS.
When I got my driver’s license I got my mom’s ’67 Impala
I got a Mk3 Ford Cortina from a girl who’s hair I braided like Bo Derek in 10.It wasn’t such a great deal as the car had been flooded during a high tide and had a horrible smell I couldn’t get rid of.I got it running and couldn’t stand the smell and sold it to my brother’s mate.He needed the glass as his psycho ex smashed all the windows in his Cortina.
I almost got a rolling chassis for my ’70 El Camino one year but my parents and I decided it was too much work to tackle a restoration and swap everything over.
When I got my license I was given my mom’s ’74 Pinto Runabout, and a couple of years later my dad gave me his ’80 Concord wagon.
Yes, a new Buick Riviera from my parents. I have not been given a car since:(
I was fortunate to get the new ’77 Regal as my 16th birthday present. My parents felt it was sufficient (and it was) and I have never received another car as a gift either.
Mr. Bill
How many new Buicks do you guys think you should have gotten?
Oh Lord, as many as they would have given me! I would have liked a new one for ’78 and ’79 which would have gotten me through high school (new car to match those ever changing important clothing styles) and then continue on through to college graduation in the spring of ’83.
Actually, just kidding. I realize I was very fortunate and blessed to have wonderful parents who were able to do this for me. My father worked hard to give my mother and me the things he didn’t have when he grew up.
And, I did not like the downsized Regal that appeared in ’78. Mine was one of the last 1977 models on the lot. Fully loaded, I remember it stickered just shy of $6,000 and I know my dad got a good deal on it.
Mr. Bill
I will accept as many gifted new cars as anyone would like to offer me.
+1
Mr. Bill
in 96 after I have got my license my mom gave me a 92 corolla wagon(5speed)with only 45k miles on it.still driving it everyday with almost 400k miles(397563 as of rightnow).best car ever.
Impressive. Would you consider writing up your car for us? It would be interesting to hear about a 400k car, and what exactly that entails.
I would love to write about my 400k miles corolla PAUL and thank you for your interest in my highmile wagon.in my experience most 4 cylinder Toyotas from 80s and 90s will and should last 500 k miles with just regular oil change&tune up as I have seen more than a handfull camrys&corollas from late 80s to mid90s with over half a million miles or more as a matter of fact here in GREENSBORO(NC)there is a one owner 90 camry(4cyl.5spd)with over 700 kmiles on stock motor&the owner is my wife’s cousin.i will send you pictures&story as soon as I get back.merry chrismas to you all.
My buddy nursed a Tercel wagon to 750,000 km, or about 450,000 miles. The motor still ran well, too. It was just the rest of it was worn out.
How you drive a car……is everything in.re. longevity. Women and mothers…are the best drivers of “cars achieving longevity”.
My parents gave me my 2005 Impala LS after my grandma passed away. They also gave my sister and I my mom’s 1996 Concorde LXi when I was in high school. My mom got her first Volvo and so the Concorde got passed down.
No cars, just a 2001 Harley Davidson Road King custom for my birthday last year (from my most wonderful wife!).
1993 Acura Vigor given to me a year ago currently with 159k miles. What a great little car!
On the 6-hour drive to my first year of college, my mother informed me that my 2002 Mazda Tribute was my graduation gift. I plan on showing my thanks by driving every last penny out of it (since the state of MN gave it a damaged title for some practically unnoticeable hail damage, the resale value is shot anyway). Obtained on 12/31/2010 at 111K miles; now “Bonzo” is at 129K with no mechanical issues save for a corroded battery terminal that needed replacement.
You’re good for a lot more miles. I just traded a 2006 that I bought new that had a 178K, still ran fine, I just wanted a new car
“Hi, I’d like to buy a Lexus for my wife.”
“Certainly sir, what model?”
“A red ES, with beige interior. I also need a big-ass bow.”
“Beg your pardon?”
“A bow. A big-ass bow.”
“What do you mean? We sell cars, we’re not a party store, sir.”
“Whaddaya mean?! You’ve been showing Lexuses with big-ass bows on your Christmas commercials for years. And you don’t have them?!”
“Sorry sir.”
“Well screw it. I was only going to get a Lexus because I thought they came with big-ass bows. I’m going to get Jenny a ’14 CTS. Goodbye.”
+100
There was an article is yesterday’s Richmond Times Dispatch that the Lexus ad started a trend that has made December one of the most important car sales months of the year. Prior to that, most car dealerships assumed that business would be dead from Thanksgiving Day on until after New Year’s.
One of the guys who worked on that initial ad campaign now works for one of the Richmond area Lexus dealers, thus the article.
When I graduated from college, my parents gave me the 1991 Volvo 940SE I had been driving since high school. It was a great car and I wish I had never sold it. Dad ordered it new and I went with him to pick it up when it arrived. Black with saddle tan leather. I really need to write that car up for CC!
Yes, I have gotten free cars, but nothing that most people would want. I was given a 91 Buick Skylark with the Iron Duke for free a few years ago by my Uncle, which I fixed and gave to my father in law. My best ever free car was an 89 Pontiac 6000 STE with AWD which I got around 2000 for free from the same uncle. Was well used and had high mileage. But it was stolen and later found stripped in Philly. My first car, my 82 Civic Sedan wasn’t technically free, as I paid my Dad $100 for it, but it was basically a gift at that price.
I may have given one as a gift.
Do divorces count? 😉
No, those were stolen
Now that was funny.
Yeah… hilarious 🙁
I’ve given cars away several times to people who needed them more than me.
And so have I. Each one left me feeling much better than when I was given one.
On my 17th birthday in 2011 I got a 2006 IS250 AWD, with the big-ass Lexus bow! We traded it in for a 2012 IS250 this March, but here’s a picture.
2006 300C as a high school graduation present in 2005. They tried to find one of those gigantic bows, but couldn’t.
I bought my wife a new New Beetle, after she had been commenting on them for several years. White, 5 speed, Turbo, black leather. Color scheme and Turbo were probably for me 🙂 I had it delivered a few days before Christmas, when she and the kids were out and parked it in the garage with a small-ass bow stuck to the hood. The car was a hit – we still have it and she’s adamant we’ll never sell HER car.
According to my father, at least, my first car at age 19 was a gift – a beat-up, rusty, 13-year old base model Olds Cutlass with 110,000 miles. He sold it to me for $500, then lectured me about how lucky I was that he was practically giving it away to me, as he could have easily sold it to someone else for twice as much…
That’s the kind of thing that gets a pillow put over your face when you are old. I am glad I do not have those kind of parents or grandparents.
As an adult, I have had the fortune, both good and bad, to be given nice cars twice. The first time was 1993. I had been working as a courier, driving an 89 Ford Festiva L around Southern California grossing about $50 a day. (netting about $20 a day less gas and parking tickets). My nights were considerably more promising. I was palling around with a sitcom actress on a hit show. One evening she invited me and about 6 of my friends out for dinner in Hollywood. It was a restaurant on Melrose Ave. called Georgia. Although I knew she would be picking up the tab for all of us, I was caught off-guard when she handed me her valet ticket and I didn’t even have 2 dollars in my wallet. I kept one eye out for the valet with her Alfa Romeo Quadrifoglio, while I tried to palm some cash off my buddies to pay the valet. Ordinary Joes tend to hang on a celebrity’s every word and I couldn’t get my friends attention- I watched (outrageous) car after (outrageous) car pull up, praying her Alfa wouldn’t get there before I scored some cash. Finally, this fantastic cherry red 67 Mustang 390 GTA hardtop pulls up. It was breathtaking. My actress pal, annoyed, says pay the valet. Mortified, and trying to bluff my way out of embarrassment, I mutter- “that’s not your car”. And she says: “I know- It’s yours!” And for the next 10 years it was. She was the winning bid on the ‘stang in a charity auction. So you could say, two charities benefited that night!
In 2000, I was given the very first Audi TT Quattro roadster to hit the states, Nimbus Gray over Baseball Optic Leather. It was such an early build car that I didn’t have the ESP stability control which should have been standard. But that is another story, considerably more sordid.
Do tell.
Please… Do tell!
(really, sounds very interesting)
After finally selling my 64 Corvair before college this year, I got lucky when my dad decided to give his 2011 Mustang V6 (manual!) to me! Apparently he hated the impracticality as well as the clutch in city traffic. I’m pretty damn fortunate to have a dad like that!
I just remembered that I did have a car given to me. I co-worker (back in 1990) had a car towed to the city impound lot and she and her husband had no interest in getting it back. So she gave me the keys and the title and I paid the impound fees. The only thing it needed was a new battery. The car was a brown 1973 Chevy Impala. I never transferred the title nor licensed it. So, when I moved within a matter of months, I sold it for what I had in it. A little under $200. Don’t remember the miles on it, but I did drive it a few times and it ran great and needed nothing. Just a big comfortable car.
I bought a first car (used) for my brother’s kids. One niece got a 1989 Chevy Beretta. One nephew got a 1986 Chevy S-10. One nephew got a 1992 Dodge Spirit. And this year, another niece got a 2002 Chrysler Sebring sedan. All vehicles purchased were 10 or more years old with in excess of 100K miles. None on them were bad cars -well, except for the Beretta. It looked better than it ran. But, it ran good enough to get her three speeding tickets!
Four of them.
The first, and best, was an ’89 Mustang my parent’s bought for me in February 1990. It was a four-cylinder coupe with an automatic – reliable, but no rocket. I drove it until I graduated high school, through college, and for several months after starting my first job. I saw it some time later and it was looking pretty bad; it had been in two more frontal collisions and some shoddy body work appeared on it shortly after I got it, showing an earlier front end collision. It escaped the bad with me.
The second was a 1992 Ford Crown Victoria from my father-in-law, an old highway patrol car he had purchased from a state surplus auction. I drove it for a while then sold it to a friend who burned up the engine. It ended its life in the demo derby at the Ohio State Fair.
At the time I sold the ’92, the same friends gave me their ’91 Taurus wagon with a burned up transmission. It was a sort of thank you gift for putting them up (or putting up with them) for a brief time during a relocation when the Taurus died. Their fourth child had been born only days before. It was a circus. I later donated the Taurus to a charity in Kansas City.
The fourth happened while in high school or early in college while still at home. A great aunt gave me her husbands ’74 Ranchero. It is easy to forget about this one as the engine was seized from sitting and one almost needed a tetanus shot if you got too close. I sold it later for $25.
To finally answer my own question: Sort of.
When I got my license I was not bought or formally given a car. My mom and I “shared” (code for I got it when she didn’t need it) her 2004 Highlander for about 4-5 months before she purchased her BMW X3. Upon that, the Toyota essentially became mine, though she never switched the registration into my name.
I guess she finally “gave” it to me, to use a trade in when I purchased my Acura TSX. She also gave me a sizable chunk of cash to use a downpayment on it, which was very generous.
yes to both and they are all CC-certified!
Just before I got my license in 1990, I was a broke 16 year old. My older brother had just gotten a nice, very low mileage 1986 Cutlass and rather than deal with the hassle of selling it, he gave me his equally nice, equally low-mile 1973 Grand Prix. At that time, it wasn’t a classic yet, just an old car and I think I wound up giving him whatever money I had at the time, which was about $200. I still have it.
Several years later, I returned the favor when the Toyota pickup he had was wrecked and he needed a car quickly while he was dealing with insurance issues, so I gave him my 1983 Buick LeSabre I had while I was in the military (and was actually given to me by my girlfriend at the time as a car her parents no longer wanted or needed) and used the GP until I got another second car.
And 2 years ago, I got my Mom this 84 Delta 88 as a 70th birthday present. She bought one new and it was her favorite car since it was the first car she bought new on her own after she got a good job and kept it for years, and it was really a good car, I don’t remember my parents ever having any problems with it and it was the first car I ever drove.
I just found out Im getting it back since she remarried and the guy lives in town and doesn’t have room to park another car at his house. That doesn’t break my heart any, I’ll be happy to have it here.
Junqueboi will be happy to know its a Royale Brougham with the Rallye dash.
Great story about the GP. I had a ’76 that I just loved, Great car!
My current vehicle was a gift, and frankly a bit of a surprise. My grandma-in-law gave me now my 2003 Dakota Quad Cab 4×4 after she moved back up to Iowa (she had been living in Arkansas) three years ago. She had mentioned it in passing before, but when it came time to do it – memorial day weekend – I still couldn’t believe it. She’d bought it lightly used, a southern car, so it was in excellent low-mile (~60k) shape. Had the right engine, trans, transfer case, and rearend combo (4.7, 545RFE, NV231, 3.55’s) – aside from a traction-lock diff, it’s exactly what I would have looked for. Love the truck, and I still pamper it.
I’ve twice witness the giving of cars for Christmas – what my parents are currently driving. Dad surprised Mom with a brand new 2001 Mustang GT convertible the Christmas of ’00 to replace her ’96 Ford Taurus SHO. I think now “goldie” has almost 200k on the clock, and has only had one major issue – the plastic intake Ford used on them. Almost 200k in-town miles, no less.
So to thank him, the next year she bought Dad a lightly-used ’99 Ford F-150 as he’d traded off his truck on the Mustang, and had been driving the SHO. So she “borrowed” the SHO one afternoon and took me down to the rural dealer he liked to work with. “Big green” is a proper truck just the way Dad likes them, F-150 XLT regular cab, tow package, off road package, long bed with 4 wheel drive and the entry V8 (4.6). At first he was slightly miffed (he LOVED the SHO), but now 12 years later he’s still driving (and loves) “Big green”.
Like Dad and Mom I’ll probably drive my Dakota forever. Something about a car given as a gift is more memorable than the “gift” the bank gives you by loaning the money for it.
Correction – said Mustang GT has 201k on the clock. And Mom said today “why, did your father put you up to asking? I’m not getting rid of Goldie!” About the only gripe they have had with that car is it’s thirst for gasoline and the 17in wheel option that makes replacement tires happen often, and expensive.
Oh and I forgot another car I got as a gift from my in-laws, a ’93 Taurus GL shortly after my wife and i got married. Worst thing? I liked that car – a lot. I need to do a COAL on it because of how oddly it was optioned, and how for two years I tried to kill it with 0 success. I should have kept it!
I’ve actually done both. I know I’ve mentioned on this site that I gave a 1963 New Yorker station wagon to my father. Several years after that I found out that someone a friend of mine knew in Port Angeles had a 1958 Belvedere 4-door that he wanted to sell. Well, when I got there to look at it he said he’d give it to me. He needed it out of his carport so badly that he did the under-the-car part of bleeding the brakes (because it had sat for so long). It started without incident, and I drove it home to Port Orchard without any problems. I ended up passing it on to a fellow Mopar guy a few months later.
And, we gave our old 99 Accord to the daughter when we got the 2009 car. The 99 had 200k miles on it then, and now has close to 300k. The transmission was hesitating now and then at the time, and she says it’s a little worse now, but she’s still driving it, and keeps it looking good.
My 1989 E30 cabrio. My aunt bought it new; her first new car. When she moved to Florida part-time the car came with her; slowly devolving to third-car status and eventually baking in a Delray driveway for two years. I drove it back to NJ from FL in ’98 when she needed a car up north when she was selling her house. They were gonna get rid of it but my cousin convinced them to give it to me as a surprise, which it really was…we were at dinner and they sprung it on me, and my mom’s quote? “You could have walked into your mouth, your jaw was on the floor.” 160k miles and still running strong, though she’s in storage as the seats and seatbelts finally gave out, a victim of use and fatigued eighties plastic. I have no idea how to safely replace the seats and not enough cash to do so, so I’m at this point keeping it for such time as I can restore it properly.