Thomas LeFevre of Elkhart, Indiana describes himself as a serious and committed (albeit obscure) musician and he is the proud new owner of a Dodge Grand Caravan minivan.

A stimulus manifestation that debuted this July in the form of a billion-dollar D.O.T. fund, touched my life in Elkhart, Indiana. Described at www.cars.gov, this program grants up to $4,500 for trading in an older, lower-mpg car on a new, higher-mpg vehicle.

Already pooh-poohed by Edmunds on CNN ("The Situation Room", July 27), as merely sweetening sales that would've occurred anyway, I'm testifying that a 2009 Dodge Grand Caravan sale was inked on Chrysler's second day of the program as a direct result. I thank my observant wife who happened to see Chrysler's cash matching ad on July 24th.

In addition to the stimulus' $3,500 for my '95 Jeep with 173,000 miles, Chrysler brought $4,500 to the table - totaling $8,000 or nearly 30 percent off the MSRP of the new minivan. As my father would have said, "Now you're talkin'!"

I mention Elkhart, as it was the first city visited by President Obama following his Inauguration - where he presented his plan to stimulate the economy. He had been here twice during the campaign, and Elkhart's de facto unemployment still exceeds 20% (when counting underemployed and those discouraged into inactivity.) Given that truth is stranger than fiction, the irony of having a decent job - working in Elkhart for a Canadian company that was recently acquired by a German conglomerate - is not lost on a former board-certified hospital administrator who was unemployed for eleven boom years from 1995-2005. Lord knows, I'm thankful to have been a part-time church music director through these years (my work can be found at cdbaby) but newer cars were out of the question.

The only way we afforded college tuition for our two children during this time (along with other creative measures), was for me to learn to maintain and service our fleet of four high-mileage used cars. I estimate our inflation-adjusted savings over ten years in avoided car payments at nearly $150,000. The second car I traded in on this new minivan was a '90 Plymouth Voyager with 252,000 miles. See my point? Religious oil and filter changes over 19 years kept its 3.3L Chrysler V-6 from burning hardly any oil - even now! Nice work on that engine, Mr. Iacocca!

I confess, the relentless psychological pressure from my wife and kids to scrap the Voyager, I had effectively inured myself against. All its systems are working fine - including the A/C. And the Jeep, following a recent engine overhaul, could have purred through at least another five years, or 100,000 miles. Believe it or not, a greater impediment to this sale than the dreaded reality of a monthly car payment (Good Lord, am I really doing this?), is that my now vast mechanical and service knowledge of these vehicles is about to be rendered moot. But as a strong supporter of our administration, I accept as my patriotic duty that I need: 1) support US car makers and suppliers, 2) support the Elkhart economy, 3) keep peace with my wife and children (family values!), 4) bid sad farewell to diagnosis and repair skills that would have impressed even my late father, and 5) enjoy a very long haul in a spiffy 2009 Dodge minivan with a LIFETIME WARRANTY ON ENGINE AND POWERTRAIN...! Now you're talkin'!

Thomas D. LeFevre
Elkhart, Indiana