For as long as I can remember, I've felt that cars have had a soul. While not in the same sense as humans, I have always tied a personality to an automobile, regardless of make, model, or condition. When I lost my first car to a collision with another car, I lost a part of me. While the insurance company classified it as totaled, today, I would have saved her, out of guilt. I often wonder where the car ended up, whether it still sits in a salvage yard, got rebuilt with a salvaged title, or has long since been crushed.
I view cars with the same philosophy of "if these walls could talk," except instead of walls, I guess you could replace the saying with "if these wheels could talk." The different owners, the different families, the mechanics and shop technicians that have kept the car going over the years, all add history to the car. Each vehicle has their own assignment, be it transporting a kids baseball team, or putting a smile on the owner's face carving corners and pulling some g's racing to the finish line.
Dings, dents, and rust all add charactor to the car, though can just as easily lead to the car's demise. Yesterday, I took my car for it's first wash in months. The winter has not been kind to the body, and the rust is beginning to spread along the door bottoms at an alarming rate. This is where the car's emotions come into play.
Back in college, up at CMU, there was an old car junkyard on Winn Rd. It was the coolest salvage yard I ever stepped foot on, as the cars dated from as far back as the 1930's to the early 70's. As cool as it was, it also felt like a mass funeral, a burial ground, where cars were laid to rest. Here were cars dating back generations, from companies long since out of business. Thousands of voices, whispering with the wind "please, save me."
My down fall is probably the fact that I'd love to save them all, and if not for lack of storage and funds, I'd be rescuing cars until I ran out of both. While I don't share the same love for all cars, there are plenty I come across in my daily ventures, cars sitting undrivable, slowing decaying. I have a good 1/2 dozen cars I'd love to rescue right now if I could, though I'll be lucky to be able to save any of them. Two in particular that come to mind are beyond saving, a couple of mid 60's Mustangs. Left for dead in a Detroit alley. I was fortunate enough to come across the owner one day. The cars were his dad's, and the son still has visions of restoring the cars. Perhaps he lacks to automotive knowledge to bring him to accept, these cars are far beyond saving. Such a shame too, as one is a convertible.
Perhaps this connection to cars is why I recently started seriously considering a new car, perhaps a new Camaro, but maybe a Challenger or Mustang, in the next year or so. I want an untainted car, built to my liking, never used/abused by anybody but me. A car in which I can account for each and every imperfection picked up along the highway of life over the years. I have often said that I could never see justifying buying a new car, as I could easily get a year or two old car in like new condition, while saving several thousand dollars. Now, seeing that my yearly commutes are averaging a little over 2,000 miles, I can see the advantage of having a brand new car. With the proper care and maintenance, years down the road, I can have one of those low mileage gems that you see for sale from time to time. I wanna have that new car bond, take her to the track, and let the car smile ear to ear, and share that car years down the road with my kids, and perhaps even my grandkids, and pass that bond on like a family heirloom. :)
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