The New Car

So during my vacation week we brought our aging Grand Prix, Lawrence, into our awesome mechanic, Tony, so he could tell us why the engine was whining, the RPMs were too high, and the ride was jerky. We both suspected the transmission, and our fears were confirmed. However, Tony being the great mechanic he is (all five feet of him, if that) he told us we could take it up to 60 mph without hurting anything and perhaps we could look at a refurbished transmission that would be a cheaper fix. We agreed to the plan and then started the odious task of looking for a new used car.

Lawrence would be moved to "in-town" car status and the old rust-bucket 1996 Lumina, Pete, would be sold for a pittace to some poor college student to pay a tiny portion of what a newer, more reliable car would cost us. Then, the very day Tony gave us his prognosis, when my husband went to pick up our son from daycare, Old Pete wouldn't start up to come home. It sat dumbly in the parking lot while I walked to Tony's garage in the cold drizzle (thankfully, it's only a few blocks away) and retrieved Lawrence to go rescue the boys from school.

Attempts to revive Pete the next day were unsuccessful. After some discussion with Dr. Tony, we sent Old Pete to the junkyard in the care of a surly tow truck driver. We also spent some time driving and walking around various used car lots and found...Wayne.

Excuse the crappy cell phone picture.

He's eight years younger than Old Pete and five years and over 100,000 miles younger than Lawrence (who will henceforth be known as Old Lawrence). After a minor repair to a sensor, we brought him home Wednesday. We're hoping for several years of faithful service and a much easier time packing for camp this summer.

Wayne has a lot to live up to. Despite needing a new engine and being embarassingly loud for the past five or so years (people would start looking down the street for the source of that ungodly ringing and squeaking half a mile before you even passed them), Pete lasted us 12 years. We're considering writing a treatise how to drive cars into the ground.

Let's just hope that Wayne is bit quieter.