Lots of Excited Blathering About Cars
After nearly three and a half years of service to me, the time has come for me to part with the Blue Meanie.
In a surprising bit of news, Dad and Teri finally figured a way to get the car I 'inherited' into North Carolina. On a side note inheriting things feels strange. You feel bad for feeling good about getting things. I love the free car, but hate how I got it.
The car, which I have named Space Ghost, is a white 1988 Honda Accord LX with 55k miles. Although it's older than the Blue Meanie (a light blue 1991 Toyota Corolla DX, although I imagine the few people who read this far have either seen it or ridden in it as I've had it since a month after I could drive), it actually has 'high tech' features I could only dream of while driving the Corolla like power windows (there's a luxury you take for granted), cruise control!, four speed automatic vs. crappy three speed Toyota transmission, and no bizarre doorframe shoulderbelts.
It also has pop-up headlights! Very 80s.
Anyway, on Saturday, Dad and Teri came down to Wilmington and picked me, fortunately not coming into my messy, still not 100% furnished house. I was ready to clean it up for them, but dad was like "We don't have to come inside" and "We'll just do the house tour another day" making it sound like it would take a long time or something. Oh well less work for me.
We drove down to Myrtle Beach. Dad got pissed because the Honda wouldn't start. Like really pissed because he paid a mechanic to fix it and it should have been running again. Teri believed it was the battery, but he had left his jumper cables at home, which I think is the real reason Dad was so pissed.
So it was decided before anything else would be done, we should eat, so it was off to IHOP. While there, a loud cell phone call in a crowded restaurant lined up some help in the form of Harold. Harold was Grandmas's boyfriend (they were pretty much married) who's good with fixing things and happens to own a car battery charger.
We met him at the house and got the car started again. I liked that I got to see Harold again. I hadn't seen him in two years. So we all stood around and talked for an hour or so, leaving the car running the whole time to make damn sure the battery charged. It started drizzling and Dad and Teri had to race against a predicted winter weather event in Raleigh, so we all had to head our seperate ways.
Dad asked that I try to limit my driving of it until it can be transferred from his name to mine. Sure Dad.
Apart from the fact it's nicer than my previous car I really like driving around in it beacuse it keeps triggering happy childhood memories. I remember her getting the car when I was four. I remember liking it way better than Mom or Dad's cars at the time because it had a fold down armrest in the back seat and I thought popup headlights were the shit. I keep thinking about being a kid riding in that car with her and Jen to this trinket shop at Barefoot Landing to buy stone figurines and the like. We'd usually do this once a summer.
As for the Blue Meanie, it shall become Jen's car until Teri passes her Volvo on to her. ON an amusing note, the following things must be fixed before this can happen:
- according to the speedometer and odometer, the car has not gone anywhere since late December and doesn't go faster than 0 mph
- I need to reattach the interior door handle on the "safety" door (behind the driver)
- a small crack on the exterior driver door handle I thought was a simple cosmetic issue grew bigger over time and now it feels like the handle will come off in my hand. I should probably do something about this
and finally
- Goddamn do I need to clean that thing!
In other news, in less than two weeks I will return to Charlotte for the first time in about three and a half months to visit a special someone I will not have seen for a month and a half. A very happy Valentine's Day indeed!
In a surprising bit of news, Dad and Teri finally figured a way to get the car I 'inherited' into North Carolina. On a side note inheriting things feels strange. You feel bad for feeling good about getting things. I love the free car, but hate how I got it.
The car, which I have named Space Ghost, is a white 1988 Honda Accord LX with 55k miles. Although it's older than the Blue Meanie (a light blue 1991 Toyota Corolla DX, although I imagine the few people who read this far have either seen it or ridden in it as I've had it since a month after I could drive), it actually has 'high tech' features I could only dream of while driving the Corolla like power windows (there's a luxury you take for granted), cruise control!, four speed automatic vs. crappy three speed Toyota transmission, and no bizarre doorframe shoulderbelts.
It also has pop-up headlights! Very 80s.
Anyway, on Saturday, Dad and Teri came down to Wilmington and picked me, fortunately not coming into my messy, still not 100% furnished house. I was ready to clean it up for them, but dad was like "We don't have to come inside" and "We'll just do the house tour another day" making it sound like it would take a long time or something. Oh well less work for me.
We drove down to Myrtle Beach. Dad got pissed because the Honda wouldn't start. Like really pissed because he paid a mechanic to fix it and it should have been running again. Teri believed it was the battery, but he had left his jumper cables at home, which I think is the real reason Dad was so pissed.
So it was decided before anything else would be done, we should eat, so it was off to IHOP. While there, a loud cell phone call in a crowded restaurant lined up some help in the form of Harold. Harold was Grandmas's boyfriend (they were pretty much married) who's good with fixing things and happens to own a car battery charger.
We met him at the house and got the car started again. I liked that I got to see Harold again. I hadn't seen him in two years. So we all stood around and talked for an hour or so, leaving the car running the whole time to make damn sure the battery charged. It started drizzling and Dad and Teri had to race against a predicted winter weather event in Raleigh, so we all had to head our seperate ways.
Dad asked that I try to limit my driving of it until it can be transferred from his name to mine. Sure Dad.
Apart from the fact it's nicer than my previous car I really like driving around in it beacuse it keeps triggering happy childhood memories. I remember her getting the car when I was four. I remember liking it way better than Mom or Dad's cars at the time because it had a fold down armrest in the back seat and I thought popup headlights were the shit. I keep thinking about being a kid riding in that car with her and Jen to this trinket shop at Barefoot Landing to buy stone figurines and the like. We'd usually do this once a summer.
As for the Blue Meanie, it shall become Jen's car until Teri passes her Volvo on to her. ON an amusing note, the following things must be fixed before this can happen:
- according to the speedometer and odometer, the car has not gone anywhere since late December and doesn't go faster than 0 mph
- I need to reattach the interior door handle on the "safety" door (behind the driver)
- a small crack on the exterior driver door handle I thought was a simple cosmetic issue grew bigger over time and now it feels like the handle will come off in my hand. I should probably do something about this
and finally
- Goddamn do I need to clean that thing!
In other news, in less than two weeks I will return to Charlotte for the first time in about three and a half months to visit a special someone I will not have seen for a month and a half. A very happy Valentine's Day indeed!