Olenka Allen's 2003 Oldsmobile Aurora

Olenka Allen's

2003 Olds Aurora

Town: Middletown

Color: Cappuccino

Mileage: 62,500

Value: $12,500

Under the hood: A small "Northstar" V-8 rated at 250hp

Origin: It's from a Buick-Olds dealer in Plainfield, Ind. My husband and I saw the car advertised on the Internet, and with its gold color and all its options, we both liked it so much that we flew out to Indianapolis a year ago and paid cash for it (thus saving a few thousand on the asking price). It was great fun driving it back home. My husband tells me it reminds him of a small Oldsmobile Toronado.

Special features: It's just a great small "personal luxury car." How many cars give you a CD player AND a cassette player? It has an all-leather interior, sunroof, heated bucket seats, all power, red pinstripe and rear spoiler, alloy wheels, gold emblem lettering on the body of the car, and an "information center" that can give you about 30 bits of information at any given time. One thing design-wise that it doesn't have is a grille for the radiator.

Favorite place to cruise: I-84 into Connecticut

Favorite cruise music: Anything relaxing

Dream car: 2010 Range Rover

Other ride: 2007 Lincoln Navigator

What bugs you about other drivers? People in the passing lane but they won't pass

On which make and model did you learn to drive? '04 Buick LeSabre

Vanity plate: AURORA03

Other: With the careless passing of Oldsmobile and Pontiac, it's hard to be a serious, upbeat, and caring car buff nowadays — if such a person still exists. I am a Peruvian-American, and I never thought I would see the American car industry go through such an upheaval.