I am saying farewell to an old and trusty friend, it has served me well for seven years, taking me to where I want to go and helping me do so many things. Other people have laughed at it and wondered why I kept it in my life when it was so obviously not worthy of my attentions, it had a battered body, with plenty of rust spots and it wasn’t the biggest or most attractive vehicle out there…but it had a heart that was bigger then it’s size and it was dependable…right up to the end. I even prolonged its life several times because I know it’s become a part of me, giving it a heart transplant a couple of years ago even though the procedure cost three times as much as the value of the vehicle.
I have done so many things in it, dreamt many dreams, travelled many miles for work and pleasure. I started new hobbies, met new friends using it’s powers and it’s abilities. I learned a lot about people by their reactions to the one I chose to have as part of my life, and I found it was an excellent barometer for detecting those people who are shallower and more materialistic then I am. They would turn up their noses at my faithful friend, not realizing that our bonds ran deep.
But alas sometimes one has to say goodbye to a faitful friend, the mechanical problems are becoming too severe and too common and it doesn’t run with the same verve it ran with before. I know that I will miss it, and it will live on in my heart. Part of it will also live on after it’s gone, I am transferring the old license plate to my new car, and if the new car is half as good as the old one I will be happy.
I said goodbye to my old old car (my very first one) at 169,000 miles… I loved that car - it was a pontiac 6000 - and it had always taken care of me. One time, I heard something pop on my way home from work - but I didn’t feel anything so I kept driving. Fourty-five minutes later - stoping at stoplights and stop signs - I made it home - only to get out of my car and hear (and watch) the air slowly but completely leave my tire. I’m convinced the car/tire just took care of me til it knew I was home safe.
Two cars later - I still miss that car. I feel your pain Odes
It seems that people often regret getting rid of their old cars. That’s why I plan to keep mine forever. I bought my first and only car when I was 16, in March 2000. It’s a 1986 Pontiac Parisienne Safari 8-passenger wagon. Most parts are pretty readily available, and it doesn’t seem to have a rusting problem like many '80s cars, so I see no reason why it shouldn’t last forever if I keep maintaining it.
I do most of the repairs and maintenance myself, so I save money and I have a good sense of the condition the car’s in. My brother and I joke that the factory secretly fitted it with an electromagnetic crash-avoidance system, after an incident in which I missed colliding with both a bus and a concrete barrier by mere millimeters. If it keeps that up, I won’t have to worry about losing it to crash damage!
If a guy can get 2,000,000 miles out of a 1966 Volvo , anything’s possible.
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What I meant to post here was…