landarch
09-27-2008, 07:08 PM
My f'ing car died. Kaput. No more.
When I was 23, I bought my first brand new car. It had 42 miles on the odometer. It was a 2000 Mercury Sable. They had just redesigned the Sable for this model year, and my infatuation with the design coupled with my need for a car at the time led to my buying it. It was a beautiful black and was loaded with everything I could get on it. I had been to every dealer in the area looking for just this car with just the right color and options. It had the 24 valve engine with 200 horsepower. It was exactly what I wanted: Solidly built, attractive, relatively inexpensive, and fast for a four door family car.
Since that time I have gotten married, had a kid, changed careers, moved several times, and all in all become a completely different person, perhaps more than once. The Sable stuck by through all of those things.
Lately, though, I have had a wandering eye towards younger, more attractive cars. The Sable had gotten older and had racked up well over a hundred thousand miles. I began shopping for the latest object of my desire, the Toyota Avalon. Oh how I yearned for the supple skin of another.
Fast forward to last Thursday. A trip to the local 'slightly used and low mileage off-lease car' dealer yielded exactly the car I had been looking for. A Pearl White 2008 Avalon with the Touring package. It's black leather interior begged for me to enter, but I did not. Good sense told me that it wasn't time. Much money had recently been spent to patch up the old car, and I hadn't really driven enough to recover my investments. Besides, the Mercury started and ran well every time.
On Friday, though, a slow time at work gave me the opportunity to think more about that Avalon and how nice it would be to drive it. I decided to put the Sable for sale on Craigslist in order to get enough of a down payment for the new car. I even applied and got approved for a loan through my credit union at work. I was going to get this car!!!!!
Later on during the afternoon commute, I called my father in Mississippi to tell him about my plans. He was always a big proponent of my driving the old car until it died. I explained to him what I had done and that I hoped to not have to give my old car away to some lowball offerer but that I was going to be buying the other one. He makes some sarcastic comment about how well I must be doing to afford a car payment in this economy. Bah. He's quite the cheapskate and even if I was doing any better than anyone else who can't afford to fill their gas tank, it still wouldn't be any of his business, but I digress.........
Our conversation drifted over to that of the impending presidential debates, which were happening nine miles away from his house. He likes McCain, I like Obama.
Not ten minutes later, the Sable makes a terrible noise and begins to miss, spit, and sputter. I was able to coast off onto a side street where I could open the hood and look for obvious faults. None to be seen. No smoke, no oil everywhere, everything appears to be in place on the outside of the engine. Turning the key again, the car fired right up but made noises consistent with a dropped valve, or severely jumped timing. I knew then it was over. Nearly nine years of hard faithful service ended just like that. AAA towed it to the local garage where it will sit until Monday, when the mechanic can skim over it, guess what's wrong, and maybe suggest what to do with it. It probably will get donated to the Red Cross or something like that. Final odometer count: 165,294 miles. Rust in peace old friend. I just wish you hadn't died with a FULL FUCKING TANK OF $3.50 GAS!!!!! My wife opined that the old Sable just didn't want to be owned by anyone else and that I shouldn't have discussed such subjects within its earshot. She was a bit more upset than I was. It's been with her for just as long.
P.S. I bought the Avalon this morning. What a nice car.
When I was 23, I bought my first brand new car. It had 42 miles on the odometer. It was a 2000 Mercury Sable. They had just redesigned the Sable for this model year, and my infatuation with the design coupled with my need for a car at the time led to my buying it. It was a beautiful black and was loaded with everything I could get on it. I had been to every dealer in the area looking for just this car with just the right color and options. It had the 24 valve engine with 200 horsepower. It was exactly what I wanted: Solidly built, attractive, relatively inexpensive, and fast for a four door family car.
Since that time I have gotten married, had a kid, changed careers, moved several times, and all in all become a completely different person, perhaps more than once. The Sable stuck by through all of those things.
Lately, though, I have had a wandering eye towards younger, more attractive cars. The Sable had gotten older and had racked up well over a hundred thousand miles. I began shopping for the latest object of my desire, the Toyota Avalon. Oh how I yearned for the supple skin of another.
Fast forward to last Thursday. A trip to the local 'slightly used and low mileage off-lease car' dealer yielded exactly the car I had been looking for. A Pearl White 2008 Avalon with the Touring package. It's black leather interior begged for me to enter, but I did not. Good sense told me that it wasn't time. Much money had recently been spent to patch up the old car, and I hadn't really driven enough to recover my investments. Besides, the Mercury started and ran well every time.
On Friday, though, a slow time at work gave me the opportunity to think more about that Avalon and how nice it would be to drive it. I decided to put the Sable for sale on Craigslist in order to get enough of a down payment for the new car. I even applied and got approved for a loan through my credit union at work. I was going to get this car!!!!!
Later on during the afternoon commute, I called my father in Mississippi to tell him about my plans. He was always a big proponent of my driving the old car until it died. I explained to him what I had done and that I hoped to not have to give my old car away to some lowball offerer but that I was going to be buying the other one. He makes some sarcastic comment about how well I must be doing to afford a car payment in this economy. Bah. He's quite the cheapskate and even if I was doing any better than anyone else who can't afford to fill their gas tank, it still wouldn't be any of his business, but I digress.........
Our conversation drifted over to that of the impending presidential debates, which were happening nine miles away from his house. He likes McCain, I like Obama.
Not ten minutes later, the Sable makes a terrible noise and begins to miss, spit, and sputter. I was able to coast off onto a side street where I could open the hood and look for obvious faults. None to be seen. No smoke, no oil everywhere, everything appears to be in place on the outside of the engine. Turning the key again, the car fired right up but made noises consistent with a dropped valve, or severely jumped timing. I knew then it was over. Nearly nine years of hard faithful service ended just like that. AAA towed it to the local garage where it will sit until Monday, when the mechanic can skim over it, guess what's wrong, and maybe suggest what to do with it. It probably will get donated to the Red Cross or something like that. Final odometer count: 165,294 miles. Rust in peace old friend. I just wish you hadn't died with a FULL FUCKING TANK OF $3.50 GAS!!!!! My wife opined that the old Sable just didn't want to be owned by anyone else and that I shouldn't have discussed such subjects within its earshot. She was a bit more upset than I was. It's been with her for just as long.
P.S. I bought the Avalon this morning. What a nice car.