Heavy Metal & Nostalgia

[Wolfsong]

Originally Posted by DapperButch

225K? That is BEYOND impressive, my friend!

Emotional about a car? Check out post #9 of this thread.

This jackass mechanic (indy BMW shop), has had my 2002 BMW Z3 for 6 weeks now. Getting some mods and some maintenance work done, but DAMN outside of the weeks ship time from the opposite coast for coilovers, it is insane! I am finally picking it up at 9pm tonight b/c I told him he needed to have it done (the place is also a freakin' hour away <grumble>).

Anyway, the reason I am sharing my frustration is to make a point. Here I am driving a low mileage BMW 128i coupe (loaner for free) for the last week (his way to make up for being a douche) and all I can think about is my 10 year old car (mind you, it is gorgeous, but STILL...). I have started to think that I have an anxiety disorder the last month or so, but I have decided it is b/c this fucker has had my car. It makes me sick to my stomach daily. Talk about emotional attachment! And it is not like I believe he isn't taking care of it. He is actually pretty damn well known in the business and I have been up there several times since he has had it.

So did you get your car back? How's it running?

Originally Posted by DapperButch

Year/make/model of your car? If you think she will continue to run well, why not just fix her up? Anything besides the short?

I was afraid that you would eventually ask that. It is a 1998 Plymouth Breeze.

Don't hate.

I know it will never be what anyone ever would consider to be a collector car. In fact, Plymouth thought so little of it that stopped making it practically right after they first starting making them ('96 through '00) when the Plymouth line was phased out altogether. In '97 they made Car and Driver's 10 Best list. I actually have more miles on my car than the number of these cars that were actually produced.

They are notorious for blowing head gaskets (which mine eventually did around 150K). The only other replacements were brakes and an alternator around 60K. Everything else on that car from stem to stern (including shocks and muffler) are 100% original.

It is missing the passenger side mirror (which fell victim to my temper and rash impulsivness when, after a particularly nasty argument with my ex, was clipped off by the garage door frame while getting the hell out of there) I believe that's where the short is at. The hood is starting to rust at it's lip and it has a fairly unnoticeable trans leak.

My impulse IS to fix it. My wife would prefer that we got rid of it. She has not pressured me in any way about this, and really has been good about leaving me alone about it.

Our other car is a '04 Chrysler Sebring convertible with 34K on it. I drove it all day today, top down, 40s on 4 jammin' on the radio. It's just a complete joy to be in.