"I don't mean to bother people who are working," he began. "What's the story on your Thunderbird there? Is it running?"
"Yes, but not well," I responded. "She needs work."And then, the ultimate question: "Is she for sale?" It seems the guy had bought a motor for his son's aging T-bird but the chassis was so rusted out he was afraid that "the motor would go right through the car." He'd been looking for a while and noticed Ladybird a while back
For many months, the mother and I had discussed what to do with Ladybird. While she hadn't settled completely on any option, the one the mother absolutely did not want to do was to sink more money into getting her fixed. As much as I missed having her running, I had to admit that it was a wise choice. The car is 23 years old. It probably has 140,000 to 150,000 miles on it. It probably would need at least, being conservative, $800-$900 to get up and running again in some kind of shape.
I told the mother about the offer and gave her the guy's phone number. About three days later, she finally called him. And two weeks ago, Ladybird, who had been idled in the driveway for almost eight months, drove away.
She not only left a noticeable hole in the driveway, but she left a hole in my heart, too. LB and I have had many adventures together. That car hauled as much, if not more, than any truck ever could. Her trunk alone was larger than some small cars!So, goodbye and good luck, Ladybird. You served us more than well and we'll always think of you fondly.
2 comments:
Man, I saw the title over on Jayne's blog, and I thought one of the animals had passed away.
I understand about the car, though. I have an old Mustang, my first car ever, and it just isn't dependable enough to drive, despite having been worked on by the old car guys. People ask about buying it, but I haven't been able to bring myself to sell it.
So it's a big paperweight in the garage. I won't say how long it's been a paperweight, because that's just embarrassing :-)
By the way, I don't know how many miles my car has on it, because the odometer only has room for five digits. I know it rolled through that once, but I forget if it did it more than once.
Five digits, what were they thinking.
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