I used to live near NAS Miramar, in San Diego. I had pilots for neighbors. They all drove sports cars of some sort. One had a 1970 Mercedes 280 SL and his room mate had a BMW 3 series. I can't remember a single one who drove a truck or sedan. Living in a condo though, these were all single guys. Personally, I think they chose their cars by sex appeal factor. I drove a VW Vanagon and a FIAT 131 Brava. One of the older pilots influenced me though. It was the one with the old Mercedes SL. Old Mercedes held their value. I ended up buying a used Mercedes 280 sedan to replace the FIAT with. It had very low miles and was in mint condition, but 9 years old. He was right. I drove that car for 5 years and sold it for almost as much as I paid, about $10K, even though it had 30k more miles by then. A few years later "Top Gun" came out. I lived in another state by then, so it was kind of cool seeing the old stomping grounds again. The pilots who lived near me made good neighbors. Better than the movie portrayed, I thought. I was in my early 20s and all of them were older than me, so maybe because it was a relatively expensive condo complex, they were a little older and more mature than the younger ones.   ... View more