Retiring the Monster
My friends and family have taken a unnatural amount of entertainment from my recent announcement that I am about to retire my car. But not just any car, it’s the car. My first car.
Yes, I am nearly thirty years old and I still have my first car. I have driven my 1987 Toyota Tercel DX 3 door for 11 years now, every day. Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing fancy about it. The clear-coat is peeling, but the interior is in great shape. It has virtually no power, crank windows, no heat, no AC…but it still gets 30 miles to the gallon and never lets me down. My dad bought me this car when I was a senior in high school in 1993. I have had it longer than my wife and kids, longer than my house, longer than my job, and even longer than I’ve lived in Oklahoma. It certainly has its shortcomings in a range of categories but like an old friend, I know it completely. I know every quirk, every sound; the feel, the smell. It burns oil as I leave for work each morning in a puff of smoke and when its cold the speedometer freaks out and buries itself even if I am only going 35MPH.
So, despite the prospect of a new model, it is with mixed emotions that I leave this friend behind. I have a short list of cars that I am interested in. I will most likely buy new as I intend to keep the next car for a similarly matrimonial period of time. The process is in full swing now as I have been poking, researching, and test-driving. I am a little behind on this blog, but I plan to detail my process and progress in this exciting search in the coming weeks (or maybe months). I would love to hear everyone’s car buying tips and experiences.