Life was good for Heather York in 2002. She had recently graduated from college, married and had two young children. Then one day as she was driving home in her midsize car, York's vehicle was struck from behind by another motorist and pushed into the car in front of her. When the dust settled the only part of her car left undamaged was the area surrounding the driver's seat, and fortunately, York was not critically injured.
When York began shopping for a replacement car for her daily commute to work she found cars that had a lot of protective iron around the passenger compartment to be appealing. Since she would not be commuting a great distance fuel economy was not as important to her as was safety.
York discovered a low-mileage 1988 Lincoln Town Car, in relatively good condition though its owner thought it needed a new transmission. "It's huge," York recalls thinking at the time. She bought the 18-foot, 3-inch-long Lincoln for $1,000 and took it to a mechanic who made some minor adjustments to the automatic transmission, which was all that was required to return the Town Car to good working order.
"I was happy for a lucky break," she says.
When new, the 1988 Lincoln Town Car was...