Imagine yourself.
Newly graduated from college.
Newly dating the man of your dreams. (Who happens to be living some 1,000 miles away from you)
Living at home and working 2 jobs to pay off college debt.
And trying to find friends to hang out with in the mean time.
(You know, the 2 hours a week when you aren't at work.)
Imagine the realization that you cannot afford a car payment.
(You can barely afford your cell phone.)
And your mom generously offers to let you use her clunker that she scored for $500 last winter.
That looks like this on the outside.
And looks like this on the inside.
That runs like a tanker truck.
Even in the snow.
Even in foot high snow.
And imagine that you just learned how to drive a manual.
And now you are going to be driving a manual everywhere.
Everyday.
And my honest opinion of the ugly beast that was older than I was?
That car was better than any timex watch ever could be.
"Takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin'" doesn't even touch what we put that car through.
It took alot to kill that car. (much to my dismay)
Like 2 years worth of running it on empty.
Lots of embarrassment.
Lots of stalling out.
Lots of cruising through the snow.
In the car that you could hear coming from a block away.
And no one riding with me - EVER.
But we got every bit of our $500 out of it.
And I got like 30 something miles to the gallon.
And you know what?
It was a really, really good car.
Because it was a great car, despite it's complete ugliness.
And it ran like a dream, even with 270,000+ miles on it.
Some days, I really miss that car.
But not today.
Today I am really thankful for a car that has air conditioning and covered seats.
Love it! I had a 1979 VW Rabbit and that car wouldn't die either. It was a standard and we lived in NH at the time and it started every day and jumpstarted all my friends and co-workers when their fancy cars wouldn't turn over ;) My ceiling came down and talk about ugle. I finally sold it the day the hood flipped up while I was going 50 mpg with my son in the front seat...he was about 10 and I had to have him roll down his window to help me pull over without going in the ditch or hitting someone. When the car stopped I was shaking so bad and my son and I just looked at one another and burst out laughing...I think we did that so that we wouldn't scream/cry. That was before cell phones and I had to flag someone down to call a wrecker...ugh! Those were the days my friend...now I've got that song in my head ;) Have a great evening, fondly, Roberta
ReplyDeleteyep hard to kill, i had one in derby wa for a couple of years and i put it through some pretty rough places but it kept going, and yes i miss it
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