Goodnight sweet Princess

1995 Honda Accord.



Imagine if you will a black stallion running through the countryside. Galloping with all his might, legs sturdy and strong and a body smooth and clean. The previous statements accurately describe my car...six years ago.

Now imagine that same black stallion. Except its not really running through a countryside. More like sauntering through the meadows. The legs on this beast are far from sturdy and the body has long lost a great deal of shine. Some one get the Elmer's on the line, I think I have some glue to donate. Such is the current state of my car; a shell of its former self, but could still kick you in the neck if you fail to protect said head/body connector.

I bought my car in 2000 with 93,000 miles on the girl. Today its has just over 285,000 miles. Most of those 192,000 miles went to pizza delivery, though some are due to memorable road trips to Cincinnati, North Carolina, Baltimore and Varina. I vividly remember driving towards Cincinnati with 5 people in my car and pretty much laughing the entire way, even though my legs were numb, my eyes were like hub caps and each mile bringing me closer to the deadly road coma. Good thing other people can drive stick because I can only "rest my eyes' for thirty seconds at a time. My car has brought me more joy than pain, and that includes the time I tried to use hot radiator fluid as an astringent (Don't open your radiator cap...ever....even when it's dead cold outside and your car hasn't moved in months). The abundance of good times I relate to my car is why it's so hard for me to say goodbye to the old girl. I only assume its a female...I never got around to having it checked for sex.

At this point I have 9 toes out the door and one left in Richmond. Therefore I set out to sell my car to get something newer and more reliable. I was surprised to see how many people were interested in a a car with 285k miles, no A/C and the ability to only pick up conservative talk radio stations. I think it has more to do with gas prices than a common affinity for cars past their prime however.

It is my hope that this car reaches 300k and I don't see why it won't. My only regret is that I won't be the owner when she reaches this milestone. My dad is a huge car guy who takes meticulous care of his vehicles. A little bit of that has rubbed off on me. Not the cleaning part, but the part of caring about something in which you have invested so much time and money.

Hopefully within the week I can get her into new hands, but I'm going to enjoy driving her around for these last couple of days. That is unless she breaks down and consequently breaks my heart. Then I believe this is just another case of Love TKO and I will still try to sell her to the unsuspecting public.