Post by Mike B on Dec 20, 2008 20:59:24 GMT -4
The first love is the sweetest, even with cars
Beloved, high mileage 1991 Camry needs an appreciative new home
My Favorite Ride: By Laura Lane H-T columnist | llane@heraldt.com
April 6, 2008
Ten years ago, Heather Arena ended what she called a “stale” relationship. That was a good thing.
But she lost access the boyfriend’s Mazda 323 in the process. Not so good.
“The 323 was a stick shift, on which I had successfully learned to drive, and I had enjoyed driving it very much,” she said. “But I couldn’t ask him to keep using the car after breaking up with him, could I?”
Of course not.
With $2,000 saved for a down payment, she headed home to northeastern Ohio to search out a car of her own.
She had three requirements: four doors, a five-speed manual transmission and reliability.
A 1991 Toyota Camry parked at a Nissan dealership caught her eye. She took it for a test drive, straight to her dad’s office so he could inspect the vehicle.
“I was already in love with it. It was a four-door, five-speed manual and had a reliable reputation,” she said.
The brakes, after 92,000 miles, needed new rotors. But other than that, the Camry was sound. She agreed to pay $6,500 and drove the car home. Her dad had to co-sign for the loan, but she made the payments for the next three years.
“I had high hopes for the car,” Arena said, “but I never imagined that it would have taken me the places it has.”
She drove the car to scattered clinical sites around Ohio during the last months of respiratory therapy school. To Florida and back, 70 mph through the hills of Tennessee with a flat tire. Several trips to and from Virginia and North Carolina. Then there was the time the car got stuck in a giant pothole at a Taco Bell in West Virginia.
“The locals had fun watching three of us trying to get it out before humbly succumbing to Triple A’s assistance,” Arena said. She traveled to Colorado’s Rocky Mountains, then back to Florida for a friend’s wedding, all in the same week.
She put nearly 10,000 miles on the car during a four-week road trip out west for a Bach music festival in Oregon. The Camry took her to Yellowstone National Park, northern California, Crater Lake and to the Badlands, where she locked the keys inside.
Yep, she called AAA for help after a park ranger’s attempts to open the lock failed.
(You all belong to AAA, right? My mom, knowing I drive old cars with an assortment of mechanical issues, pays my membership every Christmas.)
“The car has taken me back and forth to Ohio to visit family, which has been anywhere from a three-hour trip to six hours one-way, on countless occasions,” Arena said. “It has faithfully taken me to work, and even survived a year of doing home care, where I traveled all over central and north-central Indiana to visit patients and put many more miles on the odometer.”
The Camry also survived her attempts to teach several people to drive a stick, although she did have to replace the clutch. And the CV joints, brake lines, alternator and an interior door release. She had a wreck in 1999, so there’s been some body work. She hopes recent engine work cured “some valve gasket issues” on a car with 286,000 miles.
Recently, back on the road providing home care, Arena bought a more reliable, fuel-efficient car: A 2004 Hyundai Accent.
“I am still trying to not compare it negatively to my trusty old Camry,” she said. “I have been vigilantly looking for reasons to not like it. Right off the start, I have found two: It’s a two-door automatic.”
Arena contacted me about the Camry after reading about my salvaged Subaru. I wrote a few weeks ago about the virtues of car recycling, and she gets it. She wants to find an owner for her Camry who will appreciate the car and its past.
“I will be searching for someone who is interested in a recycled Toyota Camry,” she said. “They may not be impressed with its resume, but I will always be enchanted by it. Maybe it’s because it was my first car, and it represented my first stab at independence. I earned it myself. Maybe it is because I used it for many more years than I ever imagined. Maybe it’s because it was with me on so many memorable trips.”
Cars, so often, hold a sentimental spot in the heart.
“All of these musings sound as if I have lost a first love,” she said. “In some ways, it feels that way.”
Got a story to tell about a car or truck? Call 812-331-4362, send an e-mail to lane@heraldt.com or a letter to My Favorite Ride, P.O. Box 909, Bloomington, IN 47402.
www.heraldtimesonline.com/stories/2008/04/06/deh_camry_0406+Z.jpg
Beloved, high mileage 1991 Camry needs an appreciative new home
My Favorite Ride: By Laura Lane H-T columnist | llane@heraldt.com
April 6, 2008
Ten years ago, Heather Arena ended what she called a “stale” relationship. That was a good thing.
But she lost access the boyfriend’s Mazda 323 in the process. Not so good.
“The 323 was a stick shift, on which I had successfully learned to drive, and I had enjoyed driving it very much,” she said. “But I couldn’t ask him to keep using the car after breaking up with him, could I?”
Of course not.
With $2,000 saved for a down payment, she headed home to northeastern Ohio to search out a car of her own.
She had three requirements: four doors, a five-speed manual transmission and reliability.
A 1991 Toyota Camry parked at a Nissan dealership caught her eye. She took it for a test drive, straight to her dad’s office so he could inspect the vehicle.
“I was already in love with it. It was a four-door, five-speed manual and had a reliable reputation,” she said.
The brakes, after 92,000 miles, needed new rotors. But other than that, the Camry was sound. She agreed to pay $6,500 and drove the car home. Her dad had to co-sign for the loan, but she made the payments for the next three years.
“I had high hopes for the car,” Arena said, “but I never imagined that it would have taken me the places it has.”
She drove the car to scattered clinical sites around Ohio during the last months of respiratory therapy school. To Florida and back, 70 mph through the hills of Tennessee with a flat tire. Several trips to and from Virginia and North Carolina. Then there was the time the car got stuck in a giant pothole at a Taco Bell in West Virginia.
“The locals had fun watching three of us trying to get it out before humbly succumbing to Triple A’s assistance,” Arena said. She traveled to Colorado’s Rocky Mountains, then back to Florida for a friend’s wedding, all in the same week.
She put nearly 10,000 miles on the car during a four-week road trip out west for a Bach music festival in Oregon. The Camry took her to Yellowstone National Park, northern California, Crater Lake and to the Badlands, where she locked the keys inside.
Yep, she called AAA for help after a park ranger’s attempts to open the lock failed.
(You all belong to AAA, right? My mom, knowing I drive old cars with an assortment of mechanical issues, pays my membership every Christmas.)
“The car has taken me back and forth to Ohio to visit family, which has been anywhere from a three-hour trip to six hours one-way, on countless occasions,” Arena said. “It has faithfully taken me to work, and even survived a year of doing home care, where I traveled all over central and north-central Indiana to visit patients and put many more miles on the odometer.”
The Camry also survived her attempts to teach several people to drive a stick, although she did have to replace the clutch. And the CV joints, brake lines, alternator and an interior door release. She had a wreck in 1999, so there’s been some body work. She hopes recent engine work cured “some valve gasket issues” on a car with 286,000 miles.
Recently, back on the road providing home care, Arena bought a more reliable, fuel-efficient car: A 2004 Hyundai Accent.
“I am still trying to not compare it negatively to my trusty old Camry,” she said. “I have been vigilantly looking for reasons to not like it. Right off the start, I have found two: It’s a two-door automatic.”
Arena contacted me about the Camry after reading about my salvaged Subaru. I wrote a few weeks ago about the virtues of car recycling, and she gets it. She wants to find an owner for her Camry who will appreciate the car and its past.
“I will be searching for someone who is interested in a recycled Toyota Camry,” she said. “They may not be impressed with its resume, but I will always be enchanted by it. Maybe it’s because it was my first car, and it represented my first stab at independence. I earned it myself. Maybe it is because I used it for many more years than I ever imagined. Maybe it’s because it was with me on so many memorable trips.”
Cars, so often, hold a sentimental spot in the heart.
“All of these musings sound as if I have lost a first love,” she said. “In some ways, it feels that way.”
Got a story to tell about a car or truck? Call 812-331-4362, send an e-mail to lane@heraldt.com or a letter to My Favorite Ride, P.O. Box 909, Bloomington, IN 47402.
www.heraldtimesonline.com/stories/2008/04/06/deh_camry_0406+Z.jpg