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Sounds Crazy

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Penacook, NH on a back road
But today I'm saying good-bye to another good friend. I've had my Kia Spectra for almost 11 years and have carried more boats on more back roads where it was never built to go on but still went. Many of the miles on the odometer are related to canoe trips from local to out of state and out out of country.

The back seat had a padded platform for my dawgs over the years and despite vacuuming the dog hair is still evident in all the crevasses. There are a lot of memories in this car but a call from a friend and an offer of cash called it done. Tomorrow it will be gone from the Humble Hovel and for some stupid arse reason I will miss that vehicle despite the fact that the new vehicle will be much better for canoes/tripping/car camping.

You ever have a car that you eeked along even though it was in it death throes to keep going that has a tale to tell? I'll be tipping a few while I empty it out.

dougd
 
Some vehicles are difficult to see go, even when it seems like they shouldn't be. Especially when there's history there.

You ever have a car that you eeked along even though it was in it death throes to keep going

Yeah, pretty much every care I've ever owned. To me vehicles are nothing but something to get from point A to point B as cheaply as possible. Being a mechanic I wait until someone has an old but relatively solid car that they finally decide not to fix and are going to junk out. I buy it cheap, fix it up, and drive it for a couple years until the next one comes along. I get some sort of odd pleasure out of driving a car across the country that most people wouldn't take out of the county.

My favorite was a Grand Caravan that I lived out of for a few months while traveling the country and then did all kinds of cross country trips after that for a few years. That van went places mini-vans were never meant to go. Most memorable was descending a long, steep, loose bouldered "road" in the back country of Gila Box in Arizona. It was way too narrow to turn around and no way was I going to try backing back up it. So I kept going down and down and down knowing I'd never get back up and thinking about how ridiculously expensive it was going to be to get someone down there to pull me out and how many miles I was going to have to walk to get to cell reception. And how was I even going to explain where I was? I finally got near the bottom and found an area wide enough to pull over and turn around.

There was a beautiful perennial creek with lush vegetation at the bottom of the canyon in the middle of the desert and, feeling like a condemned man who had just been served his last meal, Sadie and I spent a relaxing time hiking and exploring before we got back in the van to head up the trail to certain failure. And would you believe that I put that van in 1st gear and it walked right up out of that canyon? You couldn't have been more proud of your kid getting their doctorate.

Alan
 
We had a suburban with over 300 thousand miles. It was not just a car, it was like a part of the family. It needed to need to be painted .. the paint cost more than the vehicle was worth so we traded it in. Boy we missed that vehicle for many years. I get where are coming from Doug.
 
1996 Ford Ranger, Supercab, 4x4, 3.0 V6, manual, and zero options - manual windows, no A/C, AM/FM radio. I bought it new 2 years before I bought a house and moved out of my parents' place. I bought it before I met my wife. I used it to get to some remote areas in "northern" Quebec - freshly minted logging roads that lead to our once "fly-in only" camp. 12 years and a couple of 2nd vehicles later, it sat languishing in the driveway - a spongy oil pan, sticky clutch cylinder, rotting rocker panels, and another crazy expensive brake job to do (rotors were $300 each). I traded it for some cash and hunting permission on a few hundred acres. I saw it drive by just the other day - 24 years old.
 
Our first, 1991 S-10 Fit the bill. I hated to see her go !

With a 2.5 L mill and 5 speed tranny, and no air ! She did it all, the Odometer quit at 268,000. Oldest boy drove it to college , two more years. Got great gas mileage. 28 m/g
Purred like a kitten, even when I sold it ! The Body was rusted severely ! The kid that bought it, pulled what was left of the box, and built a flat bed.
Old S-10s give up hard !

Jim
 
I have owned some “memorable” old cars. The ’68 VW Beetle was a classic, and I have never owned a car that handled as well as my old Audi 100LS. The ’68 Chrysler Newport and ’71 Fiat Spider were memorable for other reasons. No, I didn’t buy four cars in four years, all were bought used, cheap and well worn.

Some vehicles are difficult to see go, even when it seems like they shouldn't be. Especially when there's history there.

I have only owned two vehicles that were hard to see go. An ’84 Toyota Hi-lux long bed pick up, and a ’93 Toyota Extracab. Both fitted with winch and cap and roof racks, beds customized as comfortable live aboards. Dozens of cross country trips in those trucks.

Both sold too young at 250,000 miles. I couldn’t fit a baby car seat and a passenger on the Hilux’s manual transmission bench seat, and eventually couldn’t fit a couple of middle schooler sons in the back of the Extracab.
 
Well, I watch my Kia the canoe carrier drive out for the last time from the Humble Hovel today and the only thing that prevented a tear in the eye was a fresh adult beverage. Indeed a sad day but I know it will get fixed by locals who know cars and will either get another life out of it or....
 
I’ve had some cars I was happy to see go- too many issues... But I can relate. Hated to see my F150 with a premature blown engine go- many great memories. The worst was my first car 70 Dodge Challenger TA. Traded it for a 67 Camaro SS convertible-thank goodness I’ve hung onto that one!:)
 
Well, I watch my Kia the canoe carrier drive out for the last time from the Humble Hovel today and the only thing that prevented a tear in the eye was a fresh adult beverage. Indeed a sad day but I know it will get fixed by locals who know cars and will either get another life out of it or....
 
Miss my '02 Jeep Liberty. Sold it last year since we did not need 3 vehicles (also got tired of waiting for Chip Foose to 'Overhaul' it). Was a great canoe hauler and would go almost everywhere (at least all the places I needed it to go). Also miss my '74 Barracuda. Had 2 toddlers so it had to go.
 
Like Alan I place little to no value on cars. I have had some that I liked and some not but the most I have ever paid was 5k and it is usually half that. They are transportation. I like the current fleet and should get another 5 years out of them.
 
I am wondering if it is time to give our 2009 Forester the boot but it has only 150 k miles on it. We had several canoe trucks. 1987 Toyota that eventually rusted out in nine years ( the electrical system corroded). a 2000 Tundra that boat hauled for 300k miles. We gave that up in 2015. Our current ride the ugly Honda Ridgeline is doing fine as a boat hauler.

But you see none of our current stable has heated seats. This may be important as a good pizza has an hour long ride. We will have to do takeout. We need a heated seat for it. At this point pizza hauling may be as important as boat hauling ( especially as the lakes are still solid)
 
I’m going on 16 years worth of Honda elements, a 2004 5 speed manual and my current 2008 auto trans
theyre useful for sure but eat brakes especially in the rear bad design

As car as others cars, I will only buy insurance wrecks that I can use for several years and still double my money at a minimum, mostly Volvo’s and jeep wranglers

i do regret selling a few long back a Torino GT with a Cleveland engine
a vw based Bradel GT kit car
and a 1971 Land Rover
shoulda hung on to all of them
 
I had a '97 Subaru Outback with 300k on it that had been really good to me, but I couldn't keep up with the rust. I found I got more emotional taking off the roof racks than I did turning over the keys to the new owner.
 
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