AzMotorNews

Yet there is a profound lesson that can be learned from these weather-worn hulks, an accumulation of eyesores that began 17 years ago when Poore needed a car and only had $650 to spend.

"Archie was the first car I saw I could afford," Poore says.

Archie is a 1972 Chevrolet Impala. It is a dull chocolate, rusted old tank, a testament to jury-rigging, tape and bailing wire. It’s a heap, a junker, an eyesore.

And it’s a beaut, at least in Poore’s eyes.

Archie was followed in 2003 by the arrival of Edith, another ’72 Impala. Gloria, a 1976 Malibu, came along in 2004 and Meathead, a ’72 Impala convertible, completed the Bunker family in May.

Edith, with functioning air-conditioning and just 80,000 on the odometer, is the top of Poore’s line. Gloria, which has 130,000 on her, was the best deal of the bunch at just $200 while Meathead, being a convertible, is often coveted by those who restore old automobiles.

But it is clear that Archie, the patriarch of the piston-driven family, holds first place in Poore’s heart. It is easily the most battered of the bunch. Poore guesses that the car has about 310,000 miles. He’s not sure because the odometer broke once when it rolled over to all zeroes. The gas gauge doesn’t work, either, which turned out to be a blessing. Archie was stolen a few years ago, but police found it parked a few miles away. It had run out of gas.

Poore has a background in electrical engineering and drafting, but opened his own computer repair business at the beginning of the year. His proficiency with computers and his affinity for Archie led to the creation of a Web site devoted to Poore’s clunkers, appropriately titled http://www.stillruns.com.

The site is a testament to the flaws, failings and oddities of his collection. Archie, a testament to the adage what doesn’t kill you only makes you uglier, is the showpiece of the site.

As president of the Arizona Impala Club, Poore even competes in car shows, where Archie routinely dominates the "worst in show" category.

It is the source of enormous pleasure for Poore to observe the reactions Archie provokes.

"On my Web site and at the car shows, I glorify Archie like it is the greatest car on earth," Poore says. "A lot of people just don’t get it. They look at Archie and say, dead-serious, ‘But it’s a pile of junk!’ "

Poore, 37, realizes that some folks might consider it demeaning to drive such old heaps. But he says it doesn’t make sense to him to sink big money into a new car "when you can buy a perfectly good car for what amounts to chump change."

Nor does Poore find misfortune in his means of transportation.

"I’m spoiled compared to a lot of people," he says. "I may be driving an old Impala without air-conditioning, but a lot of people have to walk or ride the bus or depend on somebody else for a ride. I’ve got it pretty good."

Which brings us to the lesson you can learn from those battered old Chevys in Poore’s driveway:

It is not what you have that makes for a contented life.
It is your attitude about what you have.