I sold my car............er, maybe (waxing poetic about my cars)

In our efforts to sell everything we collectively own, we have done spectacularly well. We have only failed to sell a scant few items, of which none are overly bulky and will hopefully pay for their freight in a quick sale out West (though most of the money will go to pay for said move). In the selling frenzy, I thought it would be convenient to also post my car.

I won't wax overly sentimental about my car (my wife would argue that I don't have the ability to be sentimental anyway), but it is the best car I have ever owned. I have, to this point, owned quite a few. I began my automotive journeys with a gray Chevy Chevette that, after attempting to wash it the first time, lost a good deal of its original paint when I turned the hose on it (anything with more pressure than an afternoon rain shower would have yielded a similar result). That plus the accompanying bird dropping that was fused with the paint on the hood resulted in my delusional 16 year old brain to pick out a bright blue paint job in south Florida (the only possible worse color would be a shade of black) and to find a place to have it done for under $100. It now had everyone's attention when I drove, not necessarily a good thing. On top of that obvious attribute, it also backfired loudly (though consistently), had air conditioning that did not work while the car was at an idle or you risked the engine shutting off, and had the combined horsepower of 3 children's birthday ponies.

I moved from that car to a brief dalliance with a a Chevrolet Baretta (it would prove to me my last American car foray). The car itself may have once been a good one, but the sellers were quite disreputable. It needed a lot of work on areas unseen by the naked eye (and unknown to someone who had barely learned how to check an oil level). The car also lacked ac altogether (something you can only truly appreciate while living in a place like south Florida. I still remember driving to work with just an undershirt (a wifebeater) and athletic shorts because I knew I would sweat through my uniform by the time I traversed the 10 miles or so to get to work. It didn't last long after I had an unfortunate accident on a rainy day my senior year of high school on the way to work. I will always have a soft spot in my heart for burgundy interiors.

I spent the next year and a half without a vehicle. Upon deciding that owning one was no longer a viable option, I decided a motorcycle would be a cheaper alternative. Once again, my fantastical brain thought the idea of not needing to insure it whatsoever (you did not have to if the motorcycle was paid off) was a stellar way to save some money. Being in my late teens and still immortal, it seemed a reasonable idea at the time. Thankfully my parents were more sensible and rushed to the rescue, finding me a cheap, and somewhat safer, alternative: a Toyota Tercel.

The Toyota was not a thing of beauty in its seafoam green tones with splitting Naugahyde interior, but it appealed to me in ways no other car has if only because I had gone so long without one. It did not have a lot of the refinements one would expect from an early 90s car (like power steering, a passenger side mirror, or a working ac) but it went when you pushed the gas pedal and it had a radio. It also had a manual transmission, a concept I was heretofore unfamiliar with. The fact that the clutch did not need to be replaced in the years that I owned it speaks more to the quality of the clutch than any innate ability on my part.

The Tercel era ended when, after nearly a decade of driving, I decided that i would have a car with working ac in south Florida. I had big dreams back then! I traded in my Tercel for what amounted to just about 2 monthly payments on my Honda Civic. In efforts to save money, I had to forgo some things that I wanted such as an automatic transmission and 4 doors, but I finally had a car that had all of its faculties intact. I had ac, power steering, and a cd player. It did not backfire or resist mightily when more than two people were transported. It even had safety features that went beyond a safety belt and hope. It also came with another new twist: 60 months worth of payments.

After some years spent tolling around in my little, yet very lovely Honda Civic, I decided a few things after arriving in Portland. First and foremost, I decided that there are distinct limitations to owning a stick shift in a city. In covering the 6 odd miles it took me to get to work, I would spend nearly 30 minutes shifting back and forth from first to second gear (and third if things were moving briskly). The cumulative effect was akin to having jogged to work. Additionally, I would watch jealously as many of my fellow commuters sipped their morning lattes whereas I could not without the risk of either scalding myself or stalling out my car. The second limitation came when the decision was made that I would be moving to even colder climes. All wheel drive danced through my head. I soon found myself at a Subaru dealership and shortly thereafter with a new car.

Now I bid farewell to my Forester. The deal itself is a strange one. A cash purchase made by people who declined to so much as test drive the vehicle. I will have fond (and not so fond) memories of taking it across the country to pursue my new career. It will always be the car I had when I went through my first real winter (and hopefully my last). It will be the car I most identify with my wife.

Of course.........being the unsentimental guy I am, my mind is mostly focused on what car I will get next.

Back to packing.

PS: Thanks for the 2 pennies on Salem Kelly. I appreciate it.