My Car Whine Again(part 1 of 3)
The station wagon was given to us when Doug’s parents bought a new car that they intended to give Kelly as soon as she finally got her license. Their whole car shopping criteria was “How safely will it transport her 5K tuba?” They decided they’d rather give the wagon away than get the piddly trade-in amount. When they came here to sign it over they very bluntly told Doug “Don’t bring Cathy with you.” They wanted to be sure it was in HIS name only since his ex took EVERYTHING that was jointly owned but that’s another story altogether. My name is now on nothing but that’s yet another whine. Anyway, the wagon arrived with new tires bought from a store that doesn’t have any branches in our state. It also had several dents and scratches on the sides that Doug’s Mom whispered in Doug’s ear about (“I covered them with this touch-up paint and nobody knows they are there.”). That was actually very cute. Anyway, the base was blown in the speakers from what I logically guess, a teenager turning the base up all the way to pick the tuba out of the cassette made at a marching band performance. In irony that only Freudians will appreciate, the car looked immaculately clean but the foam in the seat cushions and armrests was dry rotted and crackled with every touch. Within the first month of having the wagon it started making popping noises with every turn of the steering wheel. This was followed by brakes screeching. Then came the need for a jump starter every other day or so. Then things just started feeling funny and even though we took it to a mechanic they had no idea what was wrong. Immediately after the pointless mechanic visit the speedometer starting clicking off for no reason. This was followed by the transmission slipping and now, the transmission gets stuck in first gear every few minutes. Even more fun, every 10 to 20 minutes the car slips into neutral while in the middle of traffic. Yesterday it happened while I was sandwiched between 18-wheelers and had no place to pull over because of Interstate construction. Very scary. The power steering and air conditioner also go out without warning now. The wagon is the only car that we can all fit in at the same time, but it needs several thousand dollars of work and we just can’t afford that right now. My parents have offered to pay the mechanic bill but they are helping us out already and I just won’t accept money from them for this. We can function without the wagon for a while, especially since it is summer time and school is out.