DEFEND YOUR RIDE: Vincent At Wellstone Elementary

Q: Hi Vincent. Nice Ford. What can you tell us about it?

A: My 1996 Ford Escort blew up. It had 300,000 miles on it. It was a hose. The guy at the shop said there's good news and bad news. The good news is, it's a $15 part. The bad news is, we have to take out your entire dashboard, which will cost $800 to replace. I had to pick something quickly.

Q: Not worth it!

A: That's what we thought. Then we bought the Ranger from a kind of weird dude. It was one of those shady places to get used cars. He was trying to short sell us. The A.C. doesn't work and he said, You can get a new A.C. for $300. Even the guy he works for said, no, you can't.

Q: It sounds like you like Fords. Why?

A: It just so happens that I've been choosing American. I don't really know why, but I like Fords because they are kind of like Lego pieces. You can just slap on new things and it's fine!

Q: Did you get a truck though because you haul a lot of stuff?

A: No, we got a truck because I wanted to look like a man! But yeah, the other reason we got it is that my wife and I thought that when we move, we could put a lot of our stuff in the back. That's the other more practical reason.

Q: Ah, I see. Have you had any big adventures in this vehicle?

A: Two winters ago, I was getting on a ramp. As I grabbed my coffee cup, I started to lose control! Then I overcorrected and totally lost control! So I just let go of the wheel. Since I already had my coffee in my hand, I thought I may as well continue drinking it. As I'm doing a 180, people could literally see me drinking a cup of coffee.