I used to have a special little car. A special little RED car.
Her name was Little Red Barbara. But I often called her Little Red for short.
I bought her with my very own money my senior year of college - a 97' Plymouth Neon. Oh how proud I was. She was the simplest of models - no AC, manual windows, a stick shift.
And oh how I loved her. Because, you know.
She was mine.
We had many adventures together. A year after I bought her I married the hubs, and he eventually started driving her more often than I did because of his longer commute (Little Red had great gas mileage.)
At first I protested. That's my car! I should get to drive her the MOST!
But as time went on, I started secretly being glad that I didn't have to drive her because of all her growing...problems.
Like when her heater went out. And when she constantly overheated in the summer time. And when her shocks got broken or something and every time we hit the slightest ant mound she banged metal against metal and shook our heads around enough to give us brain damage.
And of course she had no AC, and the windows didn't roll down anymore and the driver's side door stopped opening so you had to climb out the passenger side.
Yes, this past spring we came to the conclusion that Little Red had to be replaced by something a bit more reliable. After we got a new car, the hubs put her up on Craigslist not really expecting anything to happen.
He had five replies within a half hour and he ended up selling her that morning after I went to work.
Turns out she really was a gem!
But. She was gone when I got home and I never got to say goodbye to my Little Red Barbara.
Goodbye Little Red! I'm sorry that I ever doubted you and I hope you are still driving around the freeways at great speeds while making that strange whistling sound coming from your hood that nobody could figure out.
Yes I did really just write a fairly long post about my old car. Sometimes these things just happen.
this has everything: facts, nostalgia, and laughs! Paul and I have a similar story. His 89 Civic Hatchback "Hoshimoto" was a cherished car during our college years. Manual windows, no leg room whatsoever, go-cart style handling. We vaguely knew that these cars were collectable so we put it on craigslist and sold it in minutes for cash! During the test drive with the gentleman, who was a mechanic, he popped the hood to reveal to my delight that there was a screwdriver pushed into the brake hose! THAT explained why the brakes never worked : ) Little Red is bringing back some good memories here, Liz. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteHaha yay I'm glad to bring back good memories!! Ah, the old cars just have so much character. :) I love the part about the screwdriver stuck in the brake hose, I laughed out loud!!
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