Car Killer!!

If there was one word to describe our car I guess it would be 'Shitbox'. Don't get me wrong it was a good car. It got us where we needed to go and never left us stranded by the side of the road in the four years we drove it. It's an 86 model and is a lovely shade of shit brown that has dulled considerably over time. We bought it when we first moved from BC from my friend MuskySlayer for $1000. It was the perfect car for us at that time. We'd previously been driving a Civic wagon that was nearing the end of it's life. Now we had an automatic that worked well, had little noise and was clean.

Over the last four years the car has gone down hill. Let's see if I can think of what is currently wrong with it.

Power Steering Pump is broken (has been since X-mas). If you add power steering fluid you get power steering for about 30 seconds before it all runs out onto the ground. So we've been using Armstrong steering since it broke.

The entire front end needs to be replaced. Shocks, struts, CV's and CV boots, ball joints, rattling brake pads. Basically the front wheels are about to fall off and the car sound like a box of pots and pans falling down a flight of stairs when it goes down the street.

The passenger seat is wedged in place with a chunk of wood. If the wood isn't there the seat becomes fully reclined. This is fine if your sitting in the front but is not so cool if your sitting in the back.

If you use the lighter, you will blow out your interior lights and the rest of that circuit.

The front bumper is all cracked to shit on one corner. This one is interesting because there is a black smudge on our back steps that is at the exact same height and location as the bumper would be if, say, someone were to hit the steps while trying to park in the driveway, but strangely enough nobody knows how that happened.

The passenger side doors both have big dents in them from when Jules took the turn into the driveway too tight and rubbed against the corner of the neighbors fence. I'm sure that this is in no way related to the cracked bumper above.

All of the windows are in great shape if that matters.

It was a good car for a while. It was the car that we drove to the hospital in when Number 3 was born. We used it to go to Winnipeg a few times. We went day tripping in it in the summer. We even went camping with it last summer. Now it is at the point where I would be afraid to take it on the highway, in case a wheel goes flying off at 100km/hr into oncoming traffic.

I can't really be too hard on the car. It wasn't it's fault. It just met up with the wrong guy. You see I have a history of killing cars. I'm about as good at maintaining vehicles as I am with maintaining my finances.

My first car was a 1976 Chrysler Cordoba. I drove it on 7 cylinders for a couple of years until it died and was towed to the car graveyard.

My next car was a 1987 Civic. Not a bad little car but it couldn't stand up to the 3 years of sitting in one place. I did sell the car but it was ruined by then. I have to give my friend who bought it props for trying.

Next up was a 1979 Pontiac Sunbird. This was the shortest amount of time I ever owned a car. It was a free car and I think it ran for a few months. I ended up selling it to a friend in BC even though she new it didn't work.

Then came the 1986 Civic wagon. This one was given to us by Jules's parents. It had all sorts of problems but it got me to school and back in Victoria for a couple of years and got us started when we moved. When the Cavalier entered our lives we retired the Civic to the local wrecker.

Now it's time to bid a fond farewell to the Cavalier. What will be it's fate? The car graveyard? Or maybe the neighbors will take it in and give it a good home.

All I know is that the future will be Van-tastic.