The Best Investment I Ever Made: My, My, My, My, Corolla!

A $500 used 1985 Toyota Corolla was life-changing for this teenage boy and opened a whole new world with endless possibilities.

Me and my first car.

The first real investment I ever made was my first car: a 1985 Toyota Corolla I bought from a friend at church for $500 cash. I was only 15 at the time and used a learner's permit, so I couldn't even drive it myself. It looked like a weird, square, gold-colored roller skate, but it worked.

It was the cheapest, bottom-line model they offered when it was made. Everything was manual: the doors, locks, and windows, and it was a 5-speed stick shift.

Right after I bought it, my grandpa told me:

"Congratulations on becoming a car owner, grandson. You have just purchased a black hole. For the rest of your life, you will shovel money into that thing, and it will all disappear forever."

Well, he was half right.

Yes, going from not having a car to having a car was expensive. I now had to pay for gas, insurance, car repairs, etc. But it also gave me the ability to get a job, and that changed everything!

Because it was so simple and bare, the tires were super cheap, it used the cheapest conventional oil out there, and only required the cheapest, lowest-octane fuel. When it broke down, I could make most of the repairs myself, and I could get aftermarket parts anywhere that were inexpensive.

For example, when I needed new brake pads and rotors, I did the whole brake job one afternoon with the help of a friend, whom I paid by buying him lunch at Subway.

It was simple, cheap, and ugly.

As an insecure teenager, I was embarrassed when I drove it because most of my friends had parents who gave them a cool car when they turned 16, and mine didn't.

But I drove this car until the day it died right before I got married, so I got nearly four full years of use out of this crappy little car. $500 spread over four years of use means the purchase price cost me about $125/year.

I made tens and tens of thousands of dollars using this $500 car to get to and from work. I think it was the best $500 I ever spent, honestly.

And it was a good life lesson: because I bought it, I felt like I had ownership in it. It wasn't a gift, it was something I earned. And I never had a car payment with it. In a sense, it was my ticket to adulthood.

Great choice and I'm glad I got it. (Even though I have a much nicer ride these days!)