Marry woofer - Get A Car!
OK, so i've only been in two long-term relationships in my life. You might as well call 'em marriages since we lived together and entangled everything and it'slasted/lasting longer than most marriages, so there! Back in 1999, i was still in the Army and living in Germany and was together with my then-partner, Egon, for 5 years at that point. i had worked hard to get my debts paid off and had saved up some money. i had planned on going to Norway in 2000 for my 40th birthday.
But, on cue, his old Ford Escort finally bit the big one and he needed a new car. The Renault Twingo was the latest thing in Europe and were actually kinda cool. Of course, there was no money for a new (or even a used) car, so there went my trip to Norway. Oh well, one day. Long story short, i left Egon, Germany and the Twingo behind and returned to the US where i met Matthew (which you can read all about
here). At the time, Matt was working at Enterprise Rent-A-Car's headquarters here in St. Louis and was driving a Chevy S-10 pickup that he'd gotten a good deal on at the company's car dealership. i never really liked the truck and by the following spring, about the time i finally admitted that we were in an actual relationship, he was getting over it too (since he was always getting goat-roped into helping people move their shit) so we were kinda casually looking for something new.
Once day, we were just driving around on a spring day and i saw this old '77 SL coupe in this used car lot and told Matt to pull over. This thing was pretty old and worn out, but i wanted to drive it anyway. Why not? Well, the seats themselves were shot and you were basically sitting on the floor, but it was still fun. When we got back, the salesman - who, quite coincidentally, Matt knew from when he lived in Columbia, MO, halfway across the state - said, "Wanna take it home?" Matt said, "Not this one, but what about THAT one?" and pointed to a '95 Mercedes C-280. It was seven years old and had some serious mileage, but Merc's are reknowned for lasting forever and holding their value. The best deal on financing came from my credit union so we picked it up the morning we left for Bear Pride/IML - our first - and the rest is history. Fast forward five years later...
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We made the last payment on the car in April. OK, i actually made it in May since i THOUGHT i'd paid it all, but there was literally one cent left over. Oh well. Of course, just our luck, right after that it had to go into the shop for $800 worth of work, but whatever. Anyway, it just rolled over the 200,000 mile mark last night and it's still chuggin' along! And unlike Egon and the Twingo, i'm keepin' both of these. Like i said just last week: worth every penny!
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