2007 Chrysler300

The Chrysler 300 was the first car I owned for myself. I bought it in 2010 after graduating college. I paid $17K for it in full with money saved from my summer internships at IBM. At the time, it was 3 years old and had 25K miles on it.

I dearly loved this car. It was so much nicer than I ever deserved. It offered a comfortable ride, a spacious interior, and a nice sound system. One of my favorite parts was how the dashboard lit up blue-green at night. I will never forget its unique smell, too – one that I only ever found again in Uncle Jackson’s 2007 Mercedes-Benz E350. This Chrysler served as a workhorse: driving me up and down the East Coast. There were times it went to the beach. There were times I jammed it full of IKEA furniture. There were even a few minor fender-benders.

Ultimately, I let this car go in January 2021. After 11 years and 150K miles, it had a leak around one of its cylinders. At this time, I was working from home due to COVID, and my wife and I didn’t need two cars. I sold it to Carmax for $1000.

I sorely regret selling this car. If I had the skills and tools I have now, then I would have fixed it myself. However, back then, I had neither. Nevertheless, selling the Chrysler 300 opened the way for me to buy the 1970 VW Beetle, which in turn forced me to start working on cars myself – and truly turned me into a “car guy.”