Respect from me is something that's always been earned and not given randomly.
Tonight, I pay tribute to my car, a 1999 Acura Integra GS. It's been one hell of a car, and I feel like it's time I really pay tribute to the thing.
We've been through a lot together, and we've logged in a lot of miles around the USA and Canada in the 9 years I've owned it (I have never genderized my Acura, as it has never behaved as selfishly as a woman or as brazen as a man).
I got her on July 3, 2002, at the end of a very difficult time in my life. I got it used from Davis Acura in Oxford Valley with 53,000 miles logged in. In spite of it's miles, it looked and performed like new, and it came with an extended 100,000 mile warranty. The dealer treated me as though I had purchased a brand new vehicle, and gave me all the perks of new car owners, including free washes and detail with every service, every other oil change was free, etc.
I babied my Integra, kept it clean in and out, and always kept up with the scheduled maintenance. In all the years I've had it, it's only recently left me stranded for the first time in it's entire lifespan, a thing that caused more than a little worry, because I was suddenly facing the end of an era with it, and it felt like I had a dear friend on life support, and I felt selfish with the prospect of having to go out and buy another vehicle.
Don't get me wrong. I WANT another vehicle. I just know it's going to be hard to say goodbye when that day comes.
We've gone down a lot of roads. All around the Philadelphia area and New Jersey, frequent trips to Sandy Hook or Atlantic City, Washington DC, New York City, eventually taking regular trips (sometimes a few times a month!) to Canada, crossing over that customs border at Niagara Falls, Toronto, and the entire Lake Ontario coastline. Later on, it carried myself, many of my belongings and my two kitties from Philadelphia across the country by 2900 miles to Orange County, CA, where we both reside to this day. It's wheels touched the familiar roads of PA, Delaware, Maryland, DC, and then new roads in Virginia, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and finally to California, and never once did it ask me to take a break. Even then, that car had nearly 200,000 miles on it and still ran perfectly!
As I said before, it never until very recently called in sick to me. Things have happened. Every car has issues. About six months into my ownership of it, the cover to the catalytic converter fell off on I-95 on an overnight trip to Washington DC. It still ran just fine, it was just VERY loud! It was an inexpensive repair.
In 2003, my poor baby was in a car accident. I was on the Sandy Hook peninsula driving toward my favorite beach on a nearly empty road, when all of a sudden, a car about 1/4 mile in front of me decided to make a U-turn across 4 lanes without looking, and managed to side-swipe my car. It was the most unlikely of accidents. I mean...who does that?!?!?
Fortunately, the speed limit on that road was 25, so it was a low-impact accident, and the other driver assumed 100% of fault. As for the damage, the passenger door has an nearly un-noticable crease across the middle of it, and the passenger side panel needed to be replaced as well as the front bumper. I replaced them myself using pre-painted OEM parts I found on Ebay, saving me about $4500 in body shop labor costs. The car was never "perfect" again, as to this day there is still a crease in the door and a very small bend on the passenger corner of the hood, but there was no frame damage, so my baby got me home safe and sound with no problems that day either.
It over-heated on me one time, requiring an emergency trip to the mechanic. But, it just happened to over-heat about 1/4 mile from my car dealer, as I was taking it in for an oil change and some scheduled maintenance, so it still didn't fail me. It did require a new radiator though...
About three years ago I started having some bad financial troubles. Since I no longer had a maintenance schedule and the car was no longer under warranty, I got a bit lazy on the upkeep. But still, it held on and remained a faithful friend. Right before I moved to CA, my mechanic warned me I'd be needing new rear brakes. I didn't have money to do it spot-on, so I decided I'd wait until I got to CA to replace them. Those old brakes managed to last nearly another year before they began to give me trouble. Unfortunately, it would take another year for me to finally get it fixed! That was a whole year of screaching and squeeling brakes, and I could be heard approaching a mile away!
And then just a few weeks ago, I walked out to my car to go into work only to discover my car had been broken into. Some jack-wad smashed in the passenger window and stole my gym bag from the passenger side floor. I consider that a lucky day, as the theif DID NOT take my credit cards, iPod, ID, or $300 in cash that I accidentally left in the center console, only a bag of stinky gym clothes (and my $150 pair of noise-cancelling headphones were also in that bag :( )
And just a few days later, with 228,000 miles on that car, it finally left me stranded for the first time in 9 years of ownership. It over-heated, and I had to scramble to a Pep Boys nearby as fast as I could before the engine seized and the car would have been gone forever. As I waited through Thanksgiving to find if my baby was going to survive the incident, I was at a loss as to what I'd do next. I need a car out here, and if it is fixable at all, it may be too expensive to fix. There was a possibility the head gasket was bad, which is a $1500 repair itself, not to mention everything else it would need. Repairs could have been as high as $3000, at which point it would be totaled, as it probably isn't worth that amount anymore.
Fortunately, the $1500 head gasket turned out to be a $30 valve cover gasket, and along with another new radiator (even though it's the second one I had to replace, they both lived their full life expectancy), it got a full tune-up, and BADLY needed brakes.
The mechanic even commented to me on how well the car was running for it's age and mileage. Now that I have it back nearly good as new, I'm experiencing a new joy in driving my little Integra. I know not to take it on any cross-country excursions anymore, and I know it's probably in it's last year of operation (or maybe two!), at 228,000 miles, I'm quite confident this reliable little car has another 100,000 miles of roads to cover before it decides to retire itself, and I think instead of looking to send it into early retirement for a new car, I may just let it life out it's life as long as it wants to keep riding those roads.
