And now—more news on the car saga…
When we first moved back to ElTowno, we took our little Nissan king cab 4X4 pickup, aka ElTrucko, in to see the car doctor to have it’s head examined. You see, after years of abuse, ElTrucko was having…issues. It was determined that poor little ElTrucko needed brain surgery. One head gasket, several man-hours of labor, and a thousand dollars later, we took ElTrucko home, happy to be rid of its behavioral problems.
But it was not to last.
Not 5 months later, ElTrucko’s mental instability returned—this time with a vengeance. How sad we were for ElTrucko, the poor little thing. Depression and anger were manifest in black smoke and loud outbursts. Even after much coercion, ElTrucko refused to run properly, choosing instead to brood darkly in the driveway. The doctor of machinery, alas, did not back up his work. Another surgery was not economically feasible at the time. We parked ElTrucko alongside the north end of the house and left it to rest from its turmoil for a season.
We looked far and wide for a replacement vehicle. Ok, so not very far, and not very wide. It so happened that my brother was keen to get rid of his beast of a van. I bought it for $300. To say it needed work would be, well, accurate. It was worth about $300. The back hatch had to be propped up by an old broomstick. The ignition was missing, so it had to be started with a screwdriver. The alignment was more than slightly off. The gas mileage was about 10 miles/gallon. It stalled regularly, usually in the middle of intersections. The teal green paint reminded us of Scooby-Doo’s Mystery Machine.
Ok, so it wasn’t a luxury vehicle. But what can you expect for $300?
Personally, I thought it was a good deal. We figured if it would get us through the winter, we’d be good to go. We’d then fix up ElTrucko and get on with life.
With my dad’s help, I was able to fix most things on the van. I installed a new ignition, new struts for the back hatch, and a new air filter. That took care of most of the problems. It hasn’t stalled much at all since then.
And, oh, it’s lasted us much longer than the winter. Unless you consider the fact that it is now April and we are still experiencing snowstorms, so technically, is winter really over? This is so depressing, I might go brood darkly in the driveway. But I digress.
After we laid ElCarro to rest last month, we decided to give ElTrucko the surgery she needed. We shoveled her out of the mountain of snow she was buried under. (Note to self: don’t park a car on the north side of the house during winter.) It took a few hours to pull her out. We found another surgeon. We learned that the timing chain had eaten into the casing. Not good. Alas, ElTrucko’s damage was irreversible (without paying more than ElTrucko is worth.)
Not a week after ElCarro’s death, we hollowed out a grave next to it in the salvage yard and buried ElTrucko.
We’ll miss ElTrucko every bit as much as ElCarro. She was a wonderful little truck.
When we found her, we had looked and looked for a small truck. We couldn’t find anything we wanted in our price range.
One day, in desperation, we went home to our tiny one-bedroom apartment in the basement of a protestant church and prayed for help finding a decent truck at a decent price. We were astonished when we went back outside to find the perfect answer to our prayers parked right in our driveway with a “for sale” sign in her window. We bought her from the regional director of the church we rented from.
We went on many adventures with ElTrucko. She wasn’t very fast, but she’d go just about anywhere. And we took her just about everywhere. No wonder she was so depressed when she got sick. No doubt she missed our little adventures. We did too.
Today we have a lovely little Nissan sedan that actually works, is comfortable, and even has air conditioning. We have a $300 tithing van that might actually last us another winter. But we can’t help but feel a little nostalgic as we drive past Intermountain Auto Recycling and remember ElCarro and ElTrucko, buried side by side in a mountain of mechanical trash. May they rest in peace.
When we first moved back to ElTowno, we took our little Nissan king cab 4X4 pickup, aka ElTrucko, in to see the car doctor to have it’s head examined. You see, after years of abuse, ElTrucko was having…issues. It was determined that poor little ElTrucko needed brain surgery. One head gasket, several man-hours of labor, and a thousand dollars later, we took ElTrucko home, happy to be rid of its behavioral problems.
But it was not to last.
Not 5 months later, ElTrucko’s mental instability returned—this time with a vengeance. How sad we were for ElTrucko, the poor little thing. Depression and anger were manifest in black smoke and loud outbursts. Even after much coercion, ElTrucko refused to run properly, choosing instead to brood darkly in the driveway. The doctor of machinery, alas, did not back up his work. Another surgery was not economically feasible at the time. We parked ElTrucko alongside the north end of the house and left it to rest from its turmoil for a season.
We looked far and wide for a replacement vehicle. Ok, so not very far, and not very wide. It so happened that my brother was keen to get rid of his beast of a van. I bought it for $300. To say it needed work would be, well, accurate. It was worth about $300. The back hatch had to be propped up by an old broomstick. The ignition was missing, so it had to be started with a screwdriver. The alignment was more than slightly off. The gas mileage was about 10 miles/gallon. It stalled regularly, usually in the middle of intersections. The teal green paint reminded us of Scooby-Doo’s Mystery Machine.
Ok, so it wasn’t a luxury vehicle. But what can you expect for $300?
Personally, I thought it was a good deal. We figured if it would get us through the winter, we’d be good to go. We’d then fix up ElTrucko and get on with life.
With my dad’s help, I was able to fix most things on the van. I installed a new ignition, new struts for the back hatch, and a new air filter. That took care of most of the problems. It hasn’t stalled much at all since then.
And, oh, it’s lasted us much longer than the winter. Unless you consider the fact that it is now April and we are still experiencing snowstorms, so technically, is winter really over? This is so depressing, I might go brood darkly in the driveway. But I digress.
After we laid ElCarro to rest last month, we decided to give ElTrucko the surgery she needed. We shoveled her out of the mountain of snow she was buried under. (Note to self: don’t park a car on the north side of the house during winter.) It took a few hours to pull her out. We found another surgeon. We learned that the timing chain had eaten into the casing. Not good. Alas, ElTrucko’s damage was irreversible (without paying more than ElTrucko is worth.)
Not a week after ElCarro’s death, we hollowed out a grave next to it in the salvage yard and buried ElTrucko.
We’ll miss ElTrucko every bit as much as ElCarro. She was a wonderful little truck.
When we found her, we had looked and looked for a small truck. We couldn’t find anything we wanted in our price range.
One day, in desperation, we went home to our tiny one-bedroom apartment in the basement of a protestant church and prayed for help finding a decent truck at a decent price. We were astonished when we went back outside to find the perfect answer to our prayers parked right in our driveway with a “for sale” sign in her window. We bought her from the regional director of the church we rented from.
We went on many adventures with ElTrucko. She wasn’t very fast, but she’d go just about anywhere. And we took her just about everywhere. No wonder she was so depressed when she got sick. No doubt she missed our little adventures. We did too.
Today we have a lovely little Nissan sedan that actually works, is comfortable, and even has air conditioning. We have a $300 tithing van that might actually last us another winter. But we can’t help but feel a little nostalgic as we drive past Intermountain Auto Recycling and remember ElCarro and ElTrucko, buried side by side in a mountain of mechanical trash. May they rest in peace.
2 comments:
What can I say? Between your cars and your weather, I'm feeling a little blue. Here's hoping El Vano gives you all your $300 worth and more.
Thanks. Actually, ElVanno has already paid for itself and then some.
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