The Legend Continues

For those in the know, this page needs no further explanation. For the rest of humanity, there's a bit of explaining to do so this will make some semblance of sense. (And even then, you should probably just shake your head and keep moving...)
 

Once upon in time, in a place far, far away - a college car was purchased. Like all college cars, it was purchased for a paltry sum ($800) and the new owner grew to like his new wheels very much because of the newfound freedom they gave and the pride of saying that no matter how bad they were, they were his. This particular car, however, went far beyond the typical bond forged between car and owner. After many enjoyable miles (150,000), three new stereo systems, and many new and used parts installed to keep it on the road, this car had become a member of the family. It even acquired a name - Odie. The car and the man became seemingly inseparable after so many years. Each knew the other, and were loath to part ways. Alas, however, cars do not last forever, and Odie met his demise in a lonely ditch - giving his life to save that of a cat dashing in front of him unexpectedly. After this, there was much sadness and removal of still-good parts for later use. Sympathy cards appeared and were treasured for their care and biting sarcastic humor. All who knew Odie truly missed him - for he has become a deeply ingrained part of their life. Other cars were tried and compared, but they simply could not measure up to the familiar and predictable Odie.

But, as all things fairy tale-ish, there is a happy ending. After much searching and hoarding of spare parts, a suitable replacement for Odie was found - and Odie II joined his new family. As predicted by many, I could not be without Odie for very long and had found a new one.

Some humor aside, I really did like my college car. When it was not covered in two-tone primer, it had nice looks, was put together with solid engineering, and I had enough spare parts to keep it running forever. So after the demise of the original -  I went out and bought another one. My parents think I'm crazy (who do you think sent the sympathy cards? :-) but hey, there are sick and crazier things to get attached to in life than a car. Anyway, this page is up so my family can get a good laugh out of it.

I was originally hoping to get around to doing something interesting with the "new" Odie, but I never did. It turned out to have a pretty terminal case of undercarriage rust, a very tired engine (a shade over 300,000 miles), some nagging mechanical issues that I didn't have time or the inclination to spend money to solve (clutch problems), and it was a very low-option car to start with - the lack of power steering in particular was a major drawback for me. So, I made the decision to part it out (some guy from Canada got a hell of a good deal on some parts) and junk the hulk. All that's left now are a few odds and ends in boxes that I haven't found to toss out yet, and lots of memories. You can see the car in a few of the photos I've posted from working around the house, but other than that, not much else is left. The old parts are steadily disappearing as well - each cleaning I do of the garage or shed turns up some more and they head out to the dump.

Somewhere buried in boxes and old photo albums, I have some old photos of the original Odie - both in the original factory metallic blue paint and after the primer incident. I dug a few of them up, scanned them in, and posted them to a separate page - more to follow as I find them and have time to scan them in.
 

Purchasing Order

This was vehicle #10. My first attempt at looking for a specific vehicle to replace a previous one and re-use the various parts I had. The first vehicle I gave up to the scrap heap as "not worth salvaging". My first attempt at welding in patch panels to replace rusted pieces.

Comments? Kudos? Got some parts you'd like to buy/sell/barter/swap? Nasty comments about my web page so far? You can email Mike or Debbie.

Page last updated 04/26/2008 11:41:08 PM