Bad Car Karma
There's a thread on Verla's right now about what kind of small cars are reliable and I posted to say don't buy a Chevy Corsica and realized while typing that my bad car luck is a lot worse than I originally thought.
So I'm going to talk about the cars I've had in the past and what went wrong with them because it's actually pretty funny.
The first two cars I owned were Chevy Corsicas.
Funnily enough, this picture I found on the Internet with the caption: Corsica---Found Dead on Highway
My Corsicas were both maroon and I think a bit older than the one pictured above, but Corsicas haven't evolved much, so what you see is pretty much what they look like from 1988 to 1994.
My first Corisca was purchased in 1998 by my father as a surprise for getting my driver's license, except my Corsica (with a hefty price tag of $500) didn't run and had no hubcaps. Nevertheless, it was my first car and it was better than no car at all.
My dad, being the ultra cool mechanic that he is, fixed the car for $45 and handed the keys over. My brother and I decided to take a ride down to the beach to show off my new wheels. "Make sure you have your cell phone," my dad said. "Call if you have any trouble."
My brother and I piled in and started that baby up. We didn't make it further than the mulberry tree in our front yard. I called home. "Dad," I said, "we have trouble."
After a few more minor fixes, the car was running. I owned that car until last year, but there were many more problems with it. It was moody in the rain. If it started pouring, I stayed home, because I didn't like stopping at a stoplight and having the car stale on me. I developed a few tricks after a while. If it was raining and I HAD to stop at the stoplight, I put one foot on the brake and one foot on the gas to keep the engine going.
I also replaced a starter in that car, a heater core, two mufflers, a thermostat, and countless spark plugs. Near the end, only one door opened from the outside and that was the back door on the driver's side. When we sold it, we took $75 for it because it was so badly rusted, it was ready to break in half, literally. But I loved that car, which was why, in 2004 I bought one identical to it. Of course, we were in a hurry to get another car and I had very limited cash and this seemed like a good idea.
The very same day I bought Corsica #2, I drove it home in a cloud of smoke. The power steering line had broke. My dad fixed it, but from then on, it always had a leak in the power steering fluid. I used a quart once a week otherwise it'd make this loud sound like a fog horn beneath the hood. Also, since I bought the car in late September, I didn't find out till late October that it had no heat.
In that car, I replaced two starters, a thermostat, a muffler, three gas lines, and a transmission. And the doors broke in this one too, except the driver's side didn't open at all so I had to climb through the passenger side. That car never did have heat either, which totally sucked. You'd see me driving in the middle of winter with my window down because everyone was breathing too heavily and fogging up my windows.
The car I have now is a little bit better than the Corsicas. It's a Pontiac Grand Am, which means it's prettier than the Corsicas. And it had heat! And AC! Except the AC only lasted a week once ownership went into my hands.
Oddly enough, last winter, I broke my driver's side door, which meant I was AGAIN climbing through the passenger side. I got that fixed, thank God. I've also replaced a thermostat but no starters. Just weeks ago, however, my brake line went out. I blogged about that. My dad fixed it, only for a DIFFERENT line to go out four days later. My dad fixed that line and then the back lines went out the next morning. I'm convinced my dad hated the very sight of my face for those few days.
But now everything is working! Well, except for my left front headlight, since the deer smashed that out. It'll all be fixed in two weeks. And very soon I will be buying a new car. I'm tempted to let someone else pick it out so my bad car karma isn't attached to it. Or maybe I should try a foreign car like everyone suggested on Verla's.
So I'm going to talk about the cars I've had in the past and what went wrong with them because it's actually pretty funny.
The first two cars I owned were Chevy Corsicas.
Funnily enough, this picture I found on the Internet with the caption: Corsica---Found Dead on Highway
My Corsicas were both maroon and I think a bit older than the one pictured above, but Corsicas haven't evolved much, so what you see is pretty much what they look like from 1988 to 1994.
My first Corisca was purchased in 1998 by my father as a surprise for getting my driver's license, except my Corsica (with a hefty price tag of $500) didn't run and had no hubcaps. Nevertheless, it was my first car and it was better than no car at all.
My dad, being the ultra cool mechanic that he is, fixed the car for $45 and handed the keys over. My brother and I decided to take a ride down to the beach to show off my new wheels. "Make sure you have your cell phone," my dad said. "Call if you have any trouble."
My brother and I piled in and started that baby up. We didn't make it further than the mulberry tree in our front yard. I called home. "Dad," I said, "we have trouble."
After a few more minor fixes, the car was running. I owned that car until last year, but there were many more problems with it. It was moody in the rain. If it started pouring, I stayed home, because I didn't like stopping at a stoplight and having the car stale on me. I developed a few tricks after a while. If it was raining and I HAD to stop at the stoplight, I put one foot on the brake and one foot on the gas to keep the engine going.
I also replaced a starter in that car, a heater core, two mufflers, a thermostat, and countless spark plugs. Near the end, only one door opened from the outside and that was the back door on the driver's side. When we sold it, we took $75 for it because it was so badly rusted, it was ready to break in half, literally. But I loved that car, which was why, in 2004 I bought one identical to it. Of course, we were in a hurry to get another car and I had very limited cash and this seemed like a good idea.
The very same day I bought Corsica #2, I drove it home in a cloud of smoke. The power steering line had broke. My dad fixed it, but from then on, it always had a leak in the power steering fluid. I used a quart once a week otherwise it'd make this loud sound like a fog horn beneath the hood. Also, since I bought the car in late September, I didn't find out till late October that it had no heat.
In that car, I replaced two starters, a thermostat, a muffler, three gas lines, and a transmission. And the doors broke in this one too, except the driver's side didn't open at all so I had to climb through the passenger side. That car never did have heat either, which totally sucked. You'd see me driving in the middle of winter with my window down because everyone was breathing too heavily and fogging up my windows.
The car I have now is a little bit better than the Corsicas. It's a Pontiac Grand Am, which means it's prettier than the Corsicas. And it had heat! And AC! Except the AC only lasted a week once ownership went into my hands.
Oddly enough, last winter, I broke my driver's side door, which meant I was AGAIN climbing through the passenger side. I got that fixed, thank God. I've also replaced a thermostat but no starters. Just weeks ago, however, my brake line went out. I blogged about that. My dad fixed it, only for a DIFFERENT line to go out four days later. My dad fixed that line and then the back lines went out the next morning. I'm convinced my dad hated the very sight of my face for those few days.
But now everything is working! Well, except for my left front headlight, since the deer smashed that out. It'll all be fixed in two weeks. And very soon I will be buying a new car. I'm tempted to let someone else pick it out so my bad car karma isn't attached to it. Or maybe I should try a foreign car like everyone suggested on Verla's.