[Previous entry: "Melanie's Very Deep MI-5"] [Main Index] [Next entry: "How Manly Am I?"]

10/22/2007 Entry: "Buying a New Car Dream"

I will try to blog about the weekend soon. I did want to get this dream down, though, so's I don't forget it.

Susan and I were shopping for a new car. Not much was catching our fancy. Then the salesmen said "You won't believe this. We have a 1987 Pontiac (some model--I don't remember). We took it in trade. It's been in inside storage all this time, and we forgot about it. If you're interested, I can let you see it. It only has 24,000 miles on it!" We took a look at it. It was 1/2 mini van, 1/2 station wagon, and 1/2 SUV. It was pretty hideous looking (as far as the style was concerned), but we both fell in love with it. We bought it without a test drive.

Having left the lot, we drove four or five miles. I noticed the temperature gauge kept rising. Susan noticed it too. "Perhaps the thermostat is stuck after sitting so long," I said. "Maybe it'll pop open in a second, and it'll start to cool down." No luck. The red temp idiot light went off, and I pulled over to the side. I pop open the hood, and there see half the engine is missing! There's no fan, no cowling, no radiator, no water pump. There's basically no cooling system at all!

Luckily, the spot we pulled over at was also the outside lobby of some hotel. I walked to the front desk, and asked to use their phone. I called the dealership, and demanded to talk to Everett Spear III--the owner of the dealership. (In real life, Ev owns the local Ace hardware store.) I was waiting on hold when I woke up.