(no subject)
My car was officially announced dead today. I'm going to take one of the tires tomorrow and maybe rip out the speakers before it get's picked up and out of my life forever.
The official cause of death: punctured oil pan.
I was driving through Detroit, around 8 mile and Woodward with my friends Cassie and Sam. We had tried to go to MOCAD (Museum of Contemporary Art in Detroit) but it was closed on Mondays, so we explored a few abandoned buildings and thrift stores instead. As I was making a right out of a neighborhood i drove a little over the curb. Twenty minutes later the engine seized up without much warning and I barely had enough momentum to carry me to a Rite Aid parking lot.
It was nearly 20 below zero on Monday. Public School in Ann Arbor was canceled due to coldness. Uncovered skin would develop frostbite in 16 minutes.
We walked into the Rite Aid and I bought a disposable camera to document the rest of our adventure. I didn't know then my car was dead, but It's come real close so many times that I was sort of expecting the worst, and I was oddly calm about the whole ordeal.
We proceeded to walk another half mile to the nearest gas station, where I called a tow truck and Theo to find the nearest Saab service station. We camped out in the adjoining Burger King while Ross Towing took their sweet time sending a truck over. In the hour that we were there Sam and Cassie were relentlessly hit on and pretended to be lesbians while I just sat there nervously laughing and trying to look as tough as possible - you know, spiking my mohawk as high as possible and generally acting very rooster-like.
We walked back to the car when Chris from the tow company called me. He loaded up the car. I gave him my credit card info and waved goodbye. I forgot to take out my bowling ball for Tuesday night bowling. While it was being towed a man who told me his name was On Star (apparently the government put chips in his body and thats where Cadillac got the idea for their navigation system) accosted me and asked if it was mine. I said yes, and he said he wanted me to believe in Saab. Why?
"I've fallen on hard times, but my Dad used to be real deep in Chrysler in the 60s, you know black power and shit. They didnt like that so they put some chips in my body to keep an eye on me, and one time I got to thinking about what Asians really like, you know for a car idea. So I got this phone that i can just hit buttons on and it gathers information and I found out what every Asian likes. You know what every Asian likes?"
no?
"Elephants. You ever look at them new Saabs? The 9's?"
yeah?
"The 9 looks like a trunk. The Saab Elephant. It's my most precious idea."
wow.
"I might need you one day man, don't give up on Saab and have a wonderful day."
He left. The Car got hooked up to the tow truck behind a smashed up Honda Civic. And that was that. I'll see it again tomorrow, but I've driven it for the last time. It's almost poetic that it died in Detroit, where the car industry has been slowly dying for so many years.
I had so many good times in that car - and a lot of bad ones too. I suppose thats par for the course when you put 50,000 miles on a car. I lost my virginity in that car. I had to remove a bum from the hood. I took it to New York. I took it to Philadelphia. I've driven between Ann Arbor and New Jersey with Theo three times. I've driven to DC with Andrew. I killed a deer. I got half a dozen flat tires. I got something like 8 tickets, one for going 128 MPH on 76 West on my way to a semi-secret rendezvous with Claire at E-Town on 4/20/04. I got pulled over in North Philly on my way back from a Radiohead concert with Lauren Mayes and a broken-legged Eric Lewis while we were looking for a Burger King (closed). I was given three tickets, a "don't ever come back here" and a flat tire I then had to change in the dark, by myself.
Me and that car, we didn't always totally get along. But I think I'll miss it anyway.
The official cause of death: punctured oil pan.
I was driving through Detroit, around 8 mile and Woodward with my friends Cassie and Sam. We had tried to go to MOCAD (Museum of Contemporary Art in Detroit) but it was closed on Mondays, so we explored a few abandoned buildings and thrift stores instead. As I was making a right out of a neighborhood i drove a little over the curb. Twenty minutes later the engine seized up without much warning and I barely had enough momentum to carry me to a Rite Aid parking lot.
It was nearly 20 below zero on Monday. Public School in Ann Arbor was canceled due to coldness. Uncovered skin would develop frostbite in 16 minutes.
We walked into the Rite Aid and I bought a disposable camera to document the rest of our adventure. I didn't know then my car was dead, but It's come real close so many times that I was sort of expecting the worst, and I was oddly calm about the whole ordeal.
We proceeded to walk another half mile to the nearest gas station, where I called a tow truck and Theo to find the nearest Saab service station. We camped out in the adjoining Burger King while Ross Towing took their sweet time sending a truck over. In the hour that we were there Sam and Cassie were relentlessly hit on and pretended to be lesbians while I just sat there nervously laughing and trying to look as tough as possible - you know, spiking my mohawk as high as possible and generally acting very rooster-like.
We walked back to the car when Chris from the tow company called me. He loaded up the car. I gave him my credit card info and waved goodbye. I forgot to take out my bowling ball for Tuesday night bowling. While it was being towed a man who told me his name was On Star (apparently the government put chips in his body and thats where Cadillac got the idea for their navigation system) accosted me and asked if it was mine. I said yes, and he said he wanted me to believe in Saab. Why?
"I've fallen on hard times, but my Dad used to be real deep in Chrysler in the 60s, you know black power and shit. They didnt like that so they put some chips in my body to keep an eye on me, and one time I got to thinking about what Asians really like, you know for a car idea. So I got this phone that i can just hit buttons on and it gathers information and I found out what every Asian likes. You know what every Asian likes?"
no?
"Elephants. You ever look at them new Saabs? The 9's?"
yeah?
"The 9 looks like a trunk. The Saab Elephant. It's my most precious idea."
wow.
"I might need you one day man, don't give up on Saab and have a wonderful day."
He left. The Car got hooked up to the tow truck behind a smashed up Honda Civic. And that was that. I'll see it again tomorrow, but I've driven it for the last time. It's almost poetic that it died in Detroit, where the car industry has been slowly dying for so many years.
I had so many good times in that car - and a lot of bad ones too. I suppose thats par for the course when you put 50,000 miles on a car. I lost my virginity in that car. I had to remove a bum from the hood. I took it to New York. I took it to Philadelphia. I've driven between Ann Arbor and New Jersey with Theo three times. I've driven to DC with Andrew. I killed a deer. I got half a dozen flat tires. I got something like 8 tickets, one for going 128 MPH on 76 West on my way to a semi-secret rendezvous with Claire at E-Town on 4/20/04. I got pulled over in North Philly on my way back from a Radiohead concert with Lauren Mayes and a broken-legged Eric Lewis while we were looking for a Burger King (closed). I was given three tickets, a "don't ever come back here" and a flat tire I then had to change in the dark, by myself.
Me and that car, we didn't always totally get along. But I think I'll miss it anyway.