My ride, Man. My ride. Sigh

I love, love, love my little car...

My Protege... Pam the Protege.

No, I don't drive a fancy car. I am not a fancy girl. Folk holler "You make a lot of money, you should be driving a Mercedes or Lexus." Uh, first of all, I don't make THAT much money. People make assumptions. And I suppose that's a good assumption.

But like I said, I don't like fancy stuff. And I think if I drove alot, I would most likely have something more upsscale.

But the truth is, I only have a 9.2 mile round trip commute for work. I put an average of about 5000 miles on my car per year. I fill up my 10 gallon tank every 3 weeks. (2.5 weeks in the summer, because I am running the AC).

My car is low maintenance. I get major maintenance every 3 years on average. 3 years ago, I had a junkyard transmission put in, all my timing belt stuff, etc. I also had some CV crap happen when I went out of town one year (hence me renting a car from now on if I travel long distance. Sigh).

And on this past Saturday, I took it in for some simple stuff: oil change and tune up. I would have to crank it 4 times in the morning to get it to stay on, and I figured it was the spark plugs or something like that. I also needed some brake work done.

Sooo....

I went to my favorite autoshop, out in Union City, some 25 minute drive from my downtown home.



I usually go here when I don't have multiple things that need done, and it's not an emergency, i.e., when I don't have to go hit up Cowgirl Cre's Daddy!

So this time, I just wanted a tune-up, oil change, transmission flush... and whatever else... I expected it to run me around two hundred dollars.

Sigh.

Man... I had to get much more. I needed some gasket stuff done, a CV joint, and interestingly enough, whatever bolts hold my whole engine and transmission block up in the car had degraded.
Sigh.

AND one of my engine mounts is busted. I've known about this for about 3 years, so... that's my fault.

I needed to get all that done... And the parts are on order for the engine mounts and bolts to hold my block in place.

Close to 900 dollars total

I didn't mind paying it. I like the good folks at this place. They have been there for YEARS. They print out all the car diagrams. They lift the car up in the air and let you see what the world is going on...

There was a lot of "Think about getting this CV joint done, it's slinging grease, and it's gonna start clicking."

I figured I had about 6 months left on that, but I was like "Just do whatever."

*crickets*

"Well you don't have to do it now," was the reply. "Just letting you know, and letting you know how much it cost."

"Just fix it!"

Humph...

I don't care. I've taken my car there for the last 10 years. I remember I needed a idle engine once, because the car wouldn't idle when I was at a standstill. It would've been $1500. The manager Gordon said, "Hun, if I were you, I wouldn't do that. For $180 dollars I will take it apart, and clean it and put it back together."

Hmm... that was an easy choice. I ain't had a problem out of it in 10 years.

So every since then, I tell people "Go up there and talk to Gordon!!"


My sister did that the other day. All of her brake lights etc., went out on her car. She was afraid it may cost her 500 bucks to get electrical work done. When she got a ticket, she did what I said. "Go talk to Gordon!!"

I think she paid $35 dollars to get everything back right. I had dinner with her last night, and she was FULL of glee. Go Kentucky!

So back to my $800 bill. Not an issue. Car running good. Haven't had a bill that high in about 3.5 years. FINE.

"Just do whatever!" was my final answer.

Hopefully we can't keep Pam the Protege running good... for a few years more!

But right now, this year... I need an extra car. Something to sit in the garage.

Ain't like I do much driving, BUT I need something else in case of emergency...

2000 Lexus ES300... I am on the lookout for one. They run about $5000 right now. Which is fine. I WANT one. I need to be rolling in that by my next birthday!

But for now, I will drive little Pam...

She has gotten me this far... no doubt she will take me further.