I'm not alone...

Lots of emails in my inbox the past two days about my blog post "In memoriam: my Jeep." It seems that my telling of this story moved a lot of people. Friends of mine I haven't heard from in years came out of the woodwork to tell me their car stories, or to say that they too shed a tear for my Jeep.

One friend sent me this article, that describes "clunker grief" as a condition caused by the governments current program. The friend is a psychiatrist, and I imagine she took a keen academic perspective on somebody grieving the loss of a machine from their lives. It made me feel like there are lots of other people out their like Bec and I.

Some answers to the two most common questions I got:

What is your new car?
I didn't mention the new car in my previous post on purpose. It was kind of like mentioning a widower's new boyfriend in her late husband's obituary. What a wild day last Saturday. Let me first say that we were not looking for a replacement for our Jeep, but simply another vehicle of similar size with better MPG, and improved safety features like ABS and twenty zillion airbags (we only had seat belts). We were willing to give on some things the Jeep could do like being able to scale a 12 inch vertical wall, or towing a 5000lb boat. So, we started at a Subaru place at 8:50 (10 minutes before they opened), hearts set on a Forester. But, it was too car-like. Becca liked the truck-like driving feel of the worn out Jeep with 15 year old shocks. We tried the outback but that made her ever more car-sick. So, we went home to re-fuel, and scout out our backup option: Jeep Patriot. The Patriot was an unbelievable deal last weekend. Jeep was offering to double down on the clunkers program, so it summed to $9000 off MSRP. This meant you could get a new Patriot for $10,000. Apparently we weren't the only ones who figured this out, as the 4 Jeep dealerships within 30 miles of us who had a total of 15 Patriots as of Friday afternoon, were down to 1 Patriot at one dealership left. So, we hurried off to get it, only to see a guy loading it with his stuff and driving it off as we pulled into the dealership. We drove a Compass, but it was too car-like. So, disappointed, we looked at Honda CR-V and Toyota Rav4, but neither appealed to us much. Then, at 3PM as we were heading home in defeat, my dad suggested a Ford Escape. Turns out there is a Ford 3 miles from our house, so we hit them on the way home, knowing nothing about Escapes. They had two left, and one that worked for the Clunkers program. Becca drove it straight away since the dealership closed at 4, and told me it had the feel she was looking for. So, we bought it right then, taking no chances on Clunkers being cancelled, or anybody else snapping it up (there was another guy there ready to buy it should we put down the keys). So, yes, We have a 2009 Ford Escape XLT in red. 17" chrome rims, running boards, roof rack, moon roof, Microsoft SYNC, and all kinds of other stuff I have yet to discover. I am glad the only Escape they had was one with all the features, because I wanted them, but I know I am so cheap I would have skimped if inventory was available.

What about the Datsun?
A lot of high school buddies also remembered my powder blue 1981 Datsun 210 hatchback. My senior year the Datsun was totalled when I was hit from behind by a guy who was driving home from the casino angry after having lost all his money. After 4 months of various people threatening to sue one another, I was paid $650 by his insurance company (he had been cheating on his insurance and was dropped, and had to sue to get coverage). I took the $650 and went to the junkyard where the Datsun was towed. With a jump from the Jeep, it started right up. So, I used a crow bar to clear the metal off the wheels, and drove it home (holding the driver's door closed with one arm). I put about 10 lbs of Bondo on it and repainted it, but it looked bad. I kept it for my first year of college, but when it stalled on me a couple times in unsavory parts of New London, CT (where I waited tables), I decided it had to go. I took the big steroe out of it, and sold it to a sailor on the base for $200. It was easy to do, since it was already dying and was so ugly on the side where it was hit.