Talking 2012 Plans – Final.
“The good news is that the economy and our finances will improve in a few years, enough to be able to do things together again. In the meantime, we have a cabinet full of your special swirl remover and polish. We’ll celebrate your birthday with your original tires intact instead of having them thrown forlorn in a tire shop dumpster somewhere.”
Small consolation here. But? C’mon, toss me a wrench here and tell me I’m staying!
“And you’ll always be a member of our family. You won’t be sold or traded in, nor will you have to sit outside in the elements. We can still have fun, within reason, as long as we stick close to home.
“We won’t go further into debt spending money we don’t have and you won’t get your feelings hurt by being ignored by all those car show judges who are looking for the next greatest thing, which you and I both know is just some rice-burner-wannabe with a bunch of stickers plastered all over it. By the time we get back into the whole show thing, stickers will be so passé.”
I snickered a little over the sticker reference, having seen exactly that last summer. My future sounds secure. Leaner, but I still have a roof over my head. I’ll survive. read more…
Talking 2012 Plans – Part 2.
“Your ten year birthday is this year. May 9th,” my owner began. “You’re a great car, the best. I only want the best for you,” they said. “I’m sorry you sit in the garage, un-driven so much. But I promised myself that I wouldn’t run you ragged or drive you hard into the ground like every single vehicle I’ve ever owned before.”
That much was true. I’ve heard the stories of cars and motorcycles towed away or left for dead beside dumpsters never to be heard from again. But the cold weather outside brought to mind driving home on packed snow from Olympia half a dozen years ago; scary at the time but remembered with fond memories. My fate wouldn’t be as a trade-in, it just couldn’t be.
On the other end of the scale, pushing to haul myself up a dry, California mountainside in 109 degree heat just a couple years past didn’t seem as bad now either as it felt at the time. I’ve led anything but a hard life. It’s a quiet, if boring life in a sheltered garage. One I can live with a while longer.
“You are the pinnacle of anything I ever hoped to buy for myself.” My owner tightened their grip on my steering wheel and brushed dust from my dash. I sensed something deeper was about to be spilled.
Here it came, the meat of the matter, the point of the trip, the truth. Was this it, the end of the road? If my owner had turned the ignition key at that moment, I’m sure my engine wouldn’t have fired. read more…
Talking 2012 Plans.
Has your owner had a talk with you lately? Mine did today and while it’s good to stay in touch with all that is going on (most notably, the dust accumulating on my hood), it was a difficult day.
It was very cold and surprisingly wet for my owner to pull me out of the garage for what I thought might be a just short spin around the block. You know, to keep things lubed and all. read more…
Best Overheards of 2011.
More Overheards from the Tech Day garage crew:
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“It’s a special tool. It has this hole and this long thing…”
“No, it’s an exciter.”
“What you need is a spreader. It’s this horseshoe thing that you screw on and it spreads one side and you turn it around and then spread the other side…”
“I have one of those at my house. He probably has two over at his house.”
“This is starting to feel like my garage, doing shit twice.”
“He’s got plier fingers. Nipple grippers.”
“Speaking of bending the wrong way…”
“I took the nuts off your rear.”
“He’s already got a bright bulb…”
“Just keep your clothes on…”
“How ’bout them Huskies?”
“How ’bout a little meat with your pepper?” “A little meat with your what? I thought you said a little meat with your…nevermind.”
“They’re nice people but they should be driving a Buick.”
“When he heard the check cleared, I heard that one little hair on his chest pop out. You could hear it three doors away.” *boink!*
