We said goodbye to an almost 20-year member of our car family today, my husband's 1993 Buick LeSabre. It was a true "grandpa car" in every sense. For one thing it originally belonged to Norm's dad, who bought it new out of the showroom. A lot of things happened in and around that car, and it drove like the big bad boat that it was, logging a mere 60,000 original miles.
It took an unceremonious dump in the middle of the road on my husband's way home from work last night. The rusted out motor mounts gave way and it literally dropped the engine and simultaneously lost steering ability. Then it laid its front tire against the curb and that was that. Thankfully it made it through the intersection before giving up the ghost, right there in front of the taxi service. How ironic.
We had it towed off to the junkyard today by a stubby man smoking an equally proportioned cigar, who kvetched about writing a check for junk value. I suppose that's in his job description, kvetching. He got a full tank of gas out of the deal, as we had just filled her up two days ago, but he even had a negative remark about that. Whatever, stubby dude.
This got me thinking about what I would have been doing when that car was brand new, and if my math is correct, I was getting my daughter ready for kindergarten. Seems like both yesterday and a lifetime ago.
I also looked at the Top 100 songs of 1993. Whitney Houston had the number one spot, but I chose to embed two that I actually owned CDs for and played regularly. Both Raphael Saddiq (of TTT) and Jon Bon Jovi are still going strong with no outward signs of rust.
7 comments:
I recently heard Bon Jovi on the classic rock station in my car the other day. I got really upset thinking they are not classic rock.
Then I realized I may be getting old.
I love the mental pictures you paint...it's a gift!
So sorry about your car. We used to have a giant Mercury. I lovingly called it the Pimp Mobile. It was black on the outside with a light maroon inside. It had about 60,000 when I got it and it was about 15 years old at the time. It did this family well and my 13 year old daughter thought it was cool because we could fit 5 of her friends in the car whereas her friends could only fit three kids in their parents car! We were the bomb!
Wow what a story about the car. I'm sure the people who were there to witness the scene, faces were a picture!
Some interesting music choices there. Bon Jovi is one of the few from back in the day that still has it! =D
RIP big boat of a car. May you rest peacefully in the junk yard and have a second life as parts.
Only 60,000 miles? Well no wonder it died. It was so bored there was nothing left for it to do but fall apart just to entertain itself. Our 1995 Isuzu Trooper has more than double the miles (154,600) and our 1996 Honda has almost triple the miles (last time I looked it had 204,000 miles, but Mr. Bug puts 400+ miles on it every week and I can't remember the last time I drove it. I'm curious now and I may just go look for the fun of it.).
Still, I'm sorry for your loss. Coming up with a new vehicle (and the scratch to pay for it) is a huge deal (which is why we drive the cars we do). Hope you're able to remedy the situation soon and without too much hassle.
xo -E
P.S. I didn't recognize that first song. But I do know a little bit of Bon Jovi's music (wink, wink). Nice :) .
Oops. I can do math. I meant almost quadruple the miles.
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