Goodbye to All That
This weekend I finally sold Diva, the Cutlass convertible which has been sitting without being driven since 2001- I placed an ad in the Auto Trader for $49 last week? the week before? and got a lot of calls, one of them resulting in $1000. The people came yesterday from Spartanburg SC to look at the car and decided to buy her- she started right up when they put a battery in her.
I wondered a little why I had held on to that car so long, and then I remembered how special she was. There were a lot of wonderful memories that were created in and around that car- I wonder if it was a function of my age- or was it more a function of the car? I think it was a function of the car, because I can only think of one interesting memory I really have that involved the Ciera which was Diva's immediate predecessor.
I remember buying the car in February 1998 and driving around with Julie of Yuli I love you I not gay fame- with the top down and the heat on-
when the alternator died trying to push it to the side of the road and getting it stuck on the railroad tracks and then the train came, but was able to stop in time-
driving around with Ed and the Finns-
driving around with Ed-
(a different) Jen's Halloween party with Ed and Paige and we got pulled over and they searched the car-
That time I was driving home from that crazy party in Cobb county and fell asleep at the wheel on 85 South and nearly wrecked and spun the car around on the highway-
Rosie's two year old daughter being impressed and going OOoohh at the top going down-
That horrible night Paige had to rescue me-
Letting Scott drive the car the one time we went to Buckhead-
Driving to the mountains with Trey and him sleeping next to me in the car-
Trey taking her out when he had no business doing so and then she died, and had to be towed, and that was why the top wouldn't close anymore.
Taking her all apart to get to the turn signal switch inside the column when the problem was a simple flasher-and not being able to get her back together-
Was she a good car? In the sense of holding up well, no- something was always breaking off or somehow going wrong, which was why I finally bought the Omega. But was she the kind of car to inspire memories and affection? YES. The Air conditioning never worked, which may not seem like a problem in a convertible, but then when it's raining and muggy, it's not nice- the horn never worked, and the door panel on the right side began to come off- and then the right hand mirror got broken- there were other things that began to disintegrate, too, like she leaked oil, and quite a bit of it, and it was going to cost $800 to fix, so I declined, Now I can't really remember, because of the length of time since I've driven her, but she gradually shed more and more bits, and rather expensive ones.
But as I say, she was the sort of car which inspired memories and created them. I've driven the Omega just as long and there are only a few particularly memorable things that have happened in that car- the one is when I was trying to collect the rent from the drug dealer who was living in the rental house and chased him in it and Heather and Trey were in the car and Heather strongly objected- - and of course we had the accident, but that is really not particularly Memorable.
Some cars seem somehow destined to create great memories and experiences. The convertibles, certainly, seem much more likely to do so. I suppose in some ways I should be thankful for that, because some of the memories have not been so good- but then others, like watching Trey sleep while I was driving back from the mountains, are really only possible in a convertible. They don't have that magical aura in a fairly ordinary four door sedan like the Omega.
I wondered a little why I had held on to that car so long, and then I remembered how special she was. There were a lot of wonderful memories that were created in and around that car- I wonder if it was a function of my age- or was it more a function of the car? I think it was a function of the car, because I can only think of one interesting memory I really have that involved the Ciera which was Diva's immediate predecessor.
I remember buying the car in February 1998 and driving around with Julie of Yuli I love you I not gay fame- with the top down and the heat on-
when the alternator died trying to push it to the side of the road and getting it stuck on the railroad tracks and then the train came, but was able to stop in time-
driving around with Ed and the Finns-
driving around with Ed-
(a different) Jen's Halloween party with Ed and Paige and we got pulled over and they searched the car-
That time I was driving home from that crazy party in Cobb county and fell asleep at the wheel on 85 South and nearly wrecked and spun the car around on the highway-
Rosie's two year old daughter being impressed and going OOoohh at the top going down-
That horrible night Paige had to rescue me-
Letting Scott drive the car the one time we went to Buckhead-
Driving to the mountains with Trey and him sleeping next to me in the car-
Trey taking her out when he had no business doing so and then she died, and had to be towed, and that was why the top wouldn't close anymore.
Taking her all apart to get to the turn signal switch inside the column when the problem was a simple flasher-and not being able to get her back together-
Was she a good car? In the sense of holding up well, no- something was always breaking off or somehow going wrong, which was why I finally bought the Omega. But was she the kind of car to inspire memories and affection? YES. The Air conditioning never worked, which may not seem like a problem in a convertible, but then when it's raining and muggy, it's not nice- the horn never worked, and the door panel on the right side began to come off- and then the right hand mirror got broken- there were other things that began to disintegrate, too, like she leaked oil, and quite a bit of it, and it was going to cost $800 to fix, so I declined, Now I can't really remember, because of the length of time since I've driven her, but she gradually shed more and more bits, and rather expensive ones.
But as I say, she was the sort of car which inspired memories and created them. I've driven the Omega just as long and there are only a few particularly memorable things that have happened in that car- the one is when I was trying to collect the rent from the drug dealer who was living in the rental house and chased him in it and Heather and Trey were in the car and Heather strongly objected- - and of course we had the accident, but that is really not particularly Memorable.
Some cars seem somehow destined to create great memories and experiences. The convertibles, certainly, seem much more likely to do so. I suppose in some ways I should be thankful for that, because some of the memories have not been so good- but then others, like watching Trey sleep while I was driving back from the mountains, are really only possible in a convertible. They don't have that magical aura in a fairly ordinary four door sedan like the Omega.
posted by SavageATL at 8:17 AM
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