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Car comes full circle

My First Car: As told by Kristina Davis, New Port Richey, 1986 Mitsubishi.

By Kristina Davis
Published March 5, 2007

NOW: Kristina Davis, 35, with her reclaimed 1986 Starion ESI-R. She's in the process of restoring and improving it. Share your photos
	[Times photo: Brendan Fitterer]

ADVERTISEMENT [Courtesy of Kristina Davis] THEN: Davis, 17, poses with her Starion ESI-R. She sold the car at age 21, but repurchased it more than 10 years later.

I was 15 when I first laid eyes on it, on a car lot, and it was love at first sight. Six years later, I was forced to sell it in California. I moved to Florida, North Carolina, Arkansas and back to Florida, never forgetting about the Starion. I knew somehow, some way I had to get it back, and I would never give up hope.

Years passed, and one night a horrible feeling overcame me. I knew something was horribly wrong with the car in California. I called the new owner and found out he had just been towed home. The engine had blown up.

Several more years would pass. I had sold another car and had a Mitsubishi 3000VR-4 on loan from a car dealership for a few hours while they waited on my decision whether to buy it. The phone rang and it was the Starion's owner wanting to sell it. The timing was incredible. I was within hours of buying a car.

We worked out a deal. I would pick it up in California and buy it in three months. Three months later, I called and was told he had just sold it to his brother and put it on a truck headed to Daytona Beach. I went to visit it a couple of times and found out the car had been within less than 5 miles of my new house at times.

Several more years passed before I received a call. He said the car was overheating, and he kept driving it until it died. The car was in pieces in a garage in Orlando. I bought it back for $600 and had it towed to my house. When the car was finally safe in my garage, I was stunned when I looked at the odometer and its numbers were an exact match to the month, date and year I was born. The paint was destroyed, the fender smashed in and there was a big bucket of engine parts in the back seat, but it was still beautiful.

I rebuilt it from bumper to bumper faster and stronger. I redid the interior and am just finishing the paint job. I set it free and it came back to me 3,200 miles from California to Florida and more than 10 years later.

This time, it stays with me forever.

Your first car

Tell us about your first car. E-mail your name, city, age, description of the car with make/model and a photo of it to drive@tampabay.com.

[Last modified March 5, 2007, 06:30:37]