>I get the error SQL: Column 'CAR_ID' is not found, when I run the following code:

>Select * From nonconf ;
>    LEFT OUTER JOIN car_misc;
>    LEFT OUTER JOIN car_extension ;
>    ON  Nonconf.car_id = Car_extension.car_id ;
>    ON  Nonconf.car_id = Car_misc.car_id ;
>  into cursor car_temp
>

It's working from the outside in.

SELECT * ;
   FROM car_misc ;
      LEFT JOIN car_extension ON nonConf.car_id = car_extension.car_id

At this point, it has no idea what nonConf is, so it throws the error. You can recode it as

SELECT * ;
   FROM nonConf nc ;
      LEFT JOIN car_misc cm ON nc.car_id = cm.car_id ;
      LEFT JOIN car_extension ce ON nc.car_id = ce.car_id
   INTO CURSOR car_temp

and everything will be fine.