My Favorite Ride: Sentimental ties keep woman from selling dad's old Honda Accord

When Nancy Osborn’s father died in 2022, she inherited his low-mileage 2017 Honda Civic.

Not needing two cars, she decided to sell the 2000 Honda Accord she had been driving since 2008.

“I put it on Facebook Marketplace for what I thought was a ridiculous amount of money, $3,000. It had over 230,000 miles on it at that time,” Osborn said. “A sweet lady showed up the next day with $3,000 in cash.”

But there was a problem. “The day before as I found the title in the glovebox it still had my dad's name on it,” the Bloomington woman said. “As I started to hand her the keys I broke down and told her I couldn't let it go.”

Here’s why. (Because, like I often say, there’s a story behind just about every car or truck out there, a reality that has kept this column going more than 20 years.)

When Osborn landed a sales job at Bloomington Ford, among her first customers were her parents, who purchased the aforementioned Honda Accord from the used-car inventory.

“They loved it and drove it for years,” she said.

Until 2008, when they sold the car back to their daughter after someone she loaned her car to crashed her beloved fire-engine red, five-speed Acura Integra LS.

“He totaled it and skipped town,” she recalled. “So, my parents decided to lease a Honda, and sold theirs back to me for a dollar.”

Sixteen years later, Osborn’s main vehicle is still that very first car she sold. “Although the frame is threatening to fall to the ground after every bump,” she said, “I'm still driving it today.”

Her dad’s Civic, with just 33,000 miles on the odometer, gets out on the road occasionally, but it’s mostly the Accord she drives.

Osborn figures the day will come when she retires the old car and climbs into that Civic. “It’s begging to be driven and become my next love. I will need to make that transition soon, but it will be a sad day.”

Don’t worry, Nancy. If it’s still running, someone will buy it. Someone like me, whose most recent automobile purchase was a 2001 Toyota Camry with 243,588 miles that recently sailed past 250,000-mile mark.

Do you have an old high-mileage car?

Osborn’s 2000 Accord is the latest in a series of columns about cars and trucks older than 20 years that have more than 250,000 miles on the odometer. If you have such a vehicle, tell me about it and send along a few pictures: from its best side, where it shows its age and one of the odometer reading.

Have a story to tell about a car or truck? Contact My Favorite Ride reporter Laura Lane at llane@heraldt.com or 812-318-5967.