Good-by LeBaron, Hello, Solara

The LeBaron in July 2007. (Photo by Susan Braden)

When I was a little girl, not more than 3 or 4 years old, I went with my father as he took an old car to the junkyard. I think it belonged to my great-grandmother, a 1930-something Plymouth. As young as I was back then, I felt bad and cried at the thought of this old car being abandoned to rust with like castaways. 
  
Almost 60 years later, the emotions were exactly the same as I drove my 1992 Chrysler LeBaron convertible to the now-renamed “salvage” yard. It was always a pretty car, sort of a champagne color with tan top and the nice rounded lines. We called it our “mid-life Chrysler."

At 20 years old, it was either a classic or a clunker.