For Sale or Trade, One Reverse-Averse Van

I bought this 1988 Toyota cargo van in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, in 2007 for $500. It has 180,000 miles and won’t go in reverse.

Before the van, I was driving the Chevy S-10 I inherited in high school, but it caught on fire and the idle was all messed up. I got honked at for going too slow on the highway between Boston and Woods Hole, and pulled over for having a cracked windshield. That would never happen in Alaska.

I was hoping to find a van, because I needed a place to store my stuff during the leave of absence I was about to take from the MIT/WHOI PhD program. I kept breaking bones and concluded that grad school was not healthy for me, so I took the leave to reevaluate my life.

I test-drove the van around the block and thought the $800 asking price was reasonable. I offered $500. The seller asserted that it was worth $800. He was right, and I told him