Well, dang.
Dang dang dang.
I was the happy owner of a senescent 2006 Corolla until two weeks ago. Stick shift. Pocket rocket, even at its advanced age. Nimble and clever on the road. Fantastic mileage, even at its advanced age. Loved it to pieces.
A warning light came on. One that you can’t ignore. And since I’m one of the on-call drivers for someone who’s waiting for an organ transplant, there is no way I was ignoring that warning light.
Took it in. Got it fixed. Drove it home.
Warning light came on as I pulled into the driveway.
Took it back. Got it fixed. Drove it home.
Drove to a Dr. appt. thirty miles away, next day. Warning light came on as I pulled into THEIR driveway. 25F outside, me 68 years old, yeah, I’m not walking home 30 miles. Local dealer “didn’t take walk ins”. Found someone who DID take walk ins. Drove over.
They explained what was going on with the warning light, which made absolute sense. And they fixed it.
Warning light came on as I pulled into my community’s main entrance; at least it didn’t wait til I hit the driveway.
Nah, there’s nothing wrong with my driveway.
So the next day I got online and found something used but much younger than my beast, with a shorter length and smidgen wider wheelbase and all wheel drive. And looked at the price and gasped and called my credit union and put the folder with my title in it in my messenger bag and went over and talked to the credit union and got what I needed.
And went to the place and got what I needed.
And said goodbye to a faithful companion of seventeen years. I have no doubt the warning light problem is fixable, I just hope there’s someone out there who really, really wants a nimble little used sedan with a stick shift, that gets insanely good mileage because of that stick shift… and an interior that’s in absolutely mint condition…
And now, oh holy shit, I own a Boeing.
It has lighted buttons all over the steering wheel and paddles and fins and Sirius keeps sending me emails telling me I have a free trial available but it has a CD player so I don’t care
and there are something like five LCD display panels at least
and I have to keep my key fob wrapped in tinfoil when it’s not in a metal coffee can with the other key fob because the dang thing is wi-fi and talks to itself
and when I test drove it and then drove it home it GPSed my location and now I know all the cross streets
and they do have analog owners’ manuals which thank God for that but the damn thing is thicker than either my Bible or my Qur’an.
And the seats are heated and I have the interior temperature set to “auto” and it turns on either heat or AC depending on what is going on outside and did I mention heated seats
and when I first climbed in to that heated seat it was set too high and I brushed my hair against the edge of the hatch for the moon roof
and I can turn my headlights off manually, which I could not do for 17 years and when my alternator was going bad, not being able to do that was a real hassle
And on the highway my side mirrors have little lights that show me when someone’s in my blind spots and the main dash display fusses at me if I veer close to the edge of my lane without signaling a lane change which I only did once because I was looking for the button to turn off my heated seat
And what on earth is a paddle shifter and when did steering wheels start telescoping and holy shit, I think I’m in love.
It’s not electric but ya know what?
The night I bought it it snowed like mad and the overnight temp hit single digits and all I could think of was that I only had one battery to worry about was it freezing or not.
Right now, my priority is getting X to the transplant center, if I’m the one they call. I will go electric when it is time.
Which will be when Chicago gets warm in the winter, it looks like…
cuz apparently all the Teslas parked outside up there are bricks right now. They’re calling the outdoor charging centers “Tesla graveyards” because it’s too cold for the batteries to even charge, holy moley.
www.npr.org/…
A kind of snotty update: During the snow and the single digit times, I remembered I have a trouble light packed away, with a 25 Watt bulb in it, that I could secure safely under the hood, bungee a wool blanket over said hood to block cold air from grill, and keep battery unfrozen.
Then I swore for a long long time, because that 25 Watt bulb hasn’t been used in 20 years and doubtless will flash out as soon as current hits its filament, and Our Lords And Masters In Their Infinite Wisdom Have Decreed That We Shall Never Again Have Incandescent Light Bulbs, Because They Disdain The Peasants Who Want To Keep Their Car Batteries Warm In The Winter [oh hush, this is how I got my Chevette to start without any problems in Massachusetts winters for four years].
Progress, baby. And for anyone who wants to know how “lost arts” happen, you’re seeing it. Right here. Oh, but you can buy a battery warmer, which is a teeny electric blanket for your battery, for just seventy five bux, as compared to the ten I spent for that trouble light and the fifty cents or so the light bulb cost me back then.