Earlier this month, Al Clapsaddle's wife took delivery of a brand new 2009 Saturn Aura XE — their family's 47th new Saturn! Significantly, someone in Al's family has owned at least one Saturn from every model year since 1993. His journey with the "different kind of company" began when his son started looking for his first new car.

A five-time Toyota owner at the time, Al (also known as "ClapDaddy" on the SaturnFans.com Forums) was cautiously curious about the fledgling General Motors subsidiary that his son wanted to buy a car from. But after visiting his local retailer, doing lots of research, and talking to people from around the country on the Prodigy bulletin board (he even received a call from Skip LeFauve, Saturn's president at the time, after posting some detailed questions about Saturn policies and procedures), he was sold. "The buying process was so straight forward and I never felt any pressure to buy the car," Al says on his website. Over the years, he became such a passionate enthusiast that he helped start the Central Ohio Saturn CarClub, functioned as the club's president for several years, and even joined the sales team at Saturn/West in Columbus, OH after retiring from Lucent Technologies in 2001. He still works there today, so stop in and say "hi!" if you're in the market for a car. But be careful, his enthusiasm is infectious!

Here's a list of the Saturns Al and his immediate family have purchased:

• 1993 SC1 (Aquamarine) - Al's son
• 1994 SL2 (Gold) - Al
• 1994 SL2 (Gold) - Al's brother (#1)
• 1995 SC2 (White) - Al's wife
• 1995 SC2 (Light Plum) - Al's sister (#1)
• 1996 SC2 (Black) - Al's sister (#1)
• 1996 SL2 (Green) - Al
• 1996 SL2 (Silver) - Al's son
• 1996 SL2 (Gold) - Al's brother (#1)
• 1996 SL2 (Green) - Al's brother (#2)
• 1997 SC2 (White) - Al's wife
• 1998 SL2 (Pearl White) - Al
• 1998 SW2 (Green) - Al's brother (#3)
• 1999 SC2 (Black Berry) - Al's son
• 1999 SC2 (Red) - Al's daughter
• 1999 SL2 (Gold) - Al's brother (#1)
• 1999 SL2 Homecoming (Light Green) - Al's brother (#2)
• 2000 LW1 (Blue) - Al's wife
• 2001 SC2 (Yellow) - Al's brother (#2)
• 2001 SL2 (Silver) - Al's son
• 2002 SC2 (Green) - Al's sister (#2)
• 2002 SL1 (Gold) - Al's sister (#1)
• 2002 Vue 4 FWD (Silver) - Al
• 2003 Ion 2 (Blue) - Al's sister (#2)
• 2003 Ion 3 (Green) - Al's son
• 2003 Ion 3 (White) - Al's wife
• 2003 Ion 3 (Blue) - Al's brother (#3)
• 2003 Ion 3 (Berry Red) - Al's brother (#2)
• 2003 Ion QC 3 (Orange) - Al
• 2003 L200 (Gold) - Al's brother (#1)
• 2003 Vue 6 AWD (Silver) - Al's brother (#1)
• 2004 Ion QC 2 (Black) - Al's sister (#1)
• 2004 Ion QC 3 (Black) - Al's sister (#2)
• 2005 Ion 3 (Silver) - Al's son
• 2005 Ion Redline (Red) - Al
• 2005 L300.2 (White) - Al's wife
• 2005 L300.2 (Silver) - Al's brother (#3)
• 2006 Ion 3 (White) - Al's wife
• 2006 Ion 3 (Silver) - Al's brother (#3)
• 2006 Ion 3 (Berry Red) - Al's brother (#2)
• 2006 Ion QC 3 (Black) - Al's daughter
• 2007 Ion QC 3 (Red) - Al's daughter
• 2008 Astra XE (Black) - Al's son
• 2008 Astra XE (Black) - Al's brother (#2)
• 2008 Aura XE 4 cyl (Techno Grey) - Al
• 2008 Vue XE 6 AWD (Silver) - Al's daughter
• 2009 Aura XE (White) - Al's wife