Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Some things DO get better with age!

It's the last day of February, and it's 83 degrees outside! The doors and windows of the house are wide open, reminiscent of the waning days of last autumn.

Thanks to global warming, which doesn't exist according to the science whores hired by our corporate environment plunderers to justify "business-as-usual, dump more shit into the atmosphere" while our idiot president assures us he's taking us in a direction that will reduce our addiction to oil despite acting as our bad-ass pusher by quenching our addictions to greater needs for more and more by increasing our dependency with fewer industry controls and bigger, more powerful gas guzzling obscenities on our streets, despite all that, I spent an hour or two outside with "Ol' Greenie Boy".

You see, it was eleven years ago this spring that I went shopping for a new car. Having "raised" two generations of Hondas, I was looking to adopt another one. And as my salesman, who had worked for me at one time as a parttime college kid and whose child my wife, as a 3rd grade teacher, later taught, was taking me back to the lot behind the dealership to look over his inventory, he'd made a mistake. He took me there via the side of his dealership abutting the Mazda dealership immediately next door! As much as I was dedicated to the idea of another Honda and wanted to give him the business, the sight of a new 1995 Mazda MX-6 emerging from their showers was more than I could ignore. There, glistening, naked in the sun, I couldn't take my eyes off of her. That turned out to be my salesman's fatal mistake.

I don't remember if it was immediately after leaving my friend and his Honda dealership that I snuck next door to the Mazda franchise, to ogle that MX-6, or I had the courtesy and vague sense of obligation to wait a few days. But inevitably, I wound up next door, inquiring of this car.

The rest is history. My Honda loyalty was lost, I was soon behind the seat of my very own little Mazda, "Greenie Boy"! Although driven by a small V-6, he wasn't fast. After all, this was 1995, before the drive to make most vehicles bigger, thirstier and more powerful. But he had enough "soup" to suit me and the wife. And his mileage wasn't bad either.

Eleven years later, "Ol Greenie Boy's" value has dipped dramatically, despite the fact I've failed to put 600 miles on him each of the past two years. With a total of 39,000 miles, how can I possibly let him go? He's got great rubber, low miles, and has priority in the garage over the newer, junior member of the family, i.e., I love him more than the first day I saw him last millenium. And his value is far greater to us than any blue book would ever concede.

And so, while the president was inside on the TV assuring us--despite evidence to the contrary--that while the standard of living statistics were indicating a decline in quality of life for most Americans, things are really much better, I was outside on this globally warmed day, the last day of February, in 83 degrees "communing" with my friend, "Ol Greenie Boy". As I told a neighbor who'd dropped by to witness the "love" as I bathed him there in public, "IF there's a heaven after you leave here, look for a well maintained '95 Mazda, MX-6 driving around. Most likely, I'll be the one behind its wheel wearing a big grin."

11 comments:

enigma4ever said...

I woke up to 13 degrees and ice and snow...so I loved hearing about your Autumnish day of 83.....okay , I was a smidge jealous....*sigh*...... Loved seeing your Baby getting a bath and cozy in the sun of your driveway....

Anonymous said...

Hey, what a nice surprise! God, it's great to see Enigma up & around. And those car stories! I had a pukey-pumpkin-colored little Ford V-8 Mavrick Coupe in the 70's named (are you ready) "The 'Nad Grabber" (bad girl). It was my first brand-new car.

But that Mazda picture jerked my chain! I had a '94 Mazda 626 (the sportscar that looks like a sedan), also greenish (kinda teal) that I still miss. A real extension of the driver's body, that car absolutely hugged the road like a dream. I babied him like a prize siamese cat. No real name, just the nickname "zzzdah". Well, to cut to the chase, he ended up with my outrageous sister who plastered on two bumpers stickers ... "Wankers Aweigh" and "There is no wrong hole" (did I say she's outrageous?). Kinda broke my heart to see him after only two years of fast-living, full of dents & cigarette holes in the seats. He finally gave up the ghost last year with a blown oil-pan, fuel line leak, & terminally ill-health. My sister thinks he died with a smile on his face!

Seeing your baby in the driveway, Dada, well, just reminded me of him all over. He deserved better, but maybe he did have some fun times in his twilight years, huh? D.K.

enigma4ever said...

thanks DK...loved hearing your car stories ..so funny that us gals even have tales....as do our cars...
( come email me DK- I for the life of me can not find your email address...enigma4ever@earthlink.net...)

Anonymous said...

dada, it's nice to see that i'm not the only rabid environmentalist with a contradictory love for automobiles; all of which poison our atmosphere, most of which guzzle gasoline and most of which end up in salvage yards that don't give a hoot about poisoning the countryside...my cars all get names as well, and i don't have one with under 120,000 miles...the champ for mileage has 212,000 and was abused and orphaned by my ex and nursed back to usefulness by yours truly...i'm a sucker for an orphan car that refuses to stop running and i guess i assuage my guilt about my contradictions by setting goals of 500,000 or a million miles for each of them...there's no reason an automobile can't last that long, except to help drive the economy by building more and more of them to be thrown away at an early age....

Dada said...

Wow...I had no idea my little story of washing the car would trigger such memories, stimulate such response! It appears we all have, or had, these attachments to sheet metal at one time or another. Couldn't have anything to do with the society in which we live, huh?

I just wanted to say how nice it was to see e4e back. You WERE missed, which I think is evident by some of the responses here. Sadly, I don't envy your weather, however.

Dada said...

It was nice to see former Mazda owners comment here as well. "Cleo" had a nice ring to it, Lala, unlike D.K.'s more provocative "The 'Nad Grabber".

Ouch! I think--if offered a ride in that one--I'd consider, very seriously, hoofing it instead.

I have to say, DK, reading the history of your Mazda, and your sister's tenure with it, I was reminded of the old sitcom, "Mad About You" (I think it was called) with Helen Hunt. She had this sister who was the total opposite of her. Dishevelled instead of neat, always late instead of prompt, just a natural "flake".

My favorite episode was the day they accidentally got their purses switched and, incredibly, each became the other. It was fun seeing Helen Hunt go downhill, while 'sis became fastidious and on time. But I loved the flakey sister and was so glad to see her eventually regain her discomposure.

But I'm not commenting here on the real life sitcom of D.K. and her sister, but I'm sure with you two as its tenders, your old Mazda lived a very full, good life.

Dada said...

Maineiac: You pretty well hit the nail right on the head. I love cars, despite they'll be the death of us all. At least I have one modicum of perspective I retain regarding 'em. It's those shows and magazines displaying all those exotic and prohibitively expensive machines for we the proletariate to drool over.

But my neighbor falls for that capitalist crap of keeping we little people distracted and drooling over their flashy sheet metal propelled by hi-tech jet engines. He's always telling me of the latest 220 mph Maseratti he saw, but I shut him up fast. I think he's beginning to get the "hint".

But you sound like a real expert in longterm auto maintenance. Very commendable. I may call on you in the future for upkeep advice. (grin)

Anonymous said...

thanks for the nod, dada and I would also like to say that it's nice to see e4e commenting, if not posting...

Dada said...

maineiac: In responding to some of these car posts this morning, I discovered e4e's car comment is posted under "Doing dishes....." and I didn't get to respond to it yet....but she DID actually post.

Anonymous said...

Dada, boy you nailed that sister comparison. Strange that 2 so different personalities are only 3 yrs apart. But we could never exchange places ala Mad about You. There have been times when she's had to assume a more responsible role; it almost killed her & she always blew it in the end. And it would kill me to become her even for a day ... e.g. "only" 200 of her closest friends came to her last wedding!

Well, re Mazda's ... I wish a "maineac" had been around to restore the one she abused. It had less than 90K on it when she sold it as "junk" for $800 & maineac's story makes me think there was still life in the little guy afterall. Maybe the "junk-buyer" eventually did restore him & he's out there somewhere proving that he's still a young sportster at heart. D.K.

enigma4ever said...

Hey Dada...new post is up over at e4e....thought I would let you know...it's a doozy...