Join us in saying farewell to Old Faithful, Timon's 1988 Mazda 626. There's an incredible story - seriously, a not-to-be-believed-story, surrounding the final goodbye to this car... I won't share it now - it's too fresh. Maybe someday.
He's had this car since 1997, and it had over 240,000 miles on it. Timon never had to replace the engine or even the clutch, even after I learned to drive manual transmission on this car. (Okay, so I stalled out so much he had to replace the starter, but in the scheme of things, that's not so bad.) We had high hopes for this car - either that we'd own it long enough to register it as an antique or that we'd somehow keep it for Henry. Another suggested plan was to just get in, and start driving west until it died a natural death, only stopping to fill it with gas and oil as needed. However, we were a bit concerned that we'd get all the way to California and have to turn around and come back - that it would never, never die. And so, Timon made the decision to donate the car and cut the ties. Never mind that it wasn't a great beauty. Never mind that only 2 of the doors worked. Never mind that the tires would go flat every two weeks or so. Never mind that there was no power steering or air conditioning. The cassette player (it may as well have been an 8 track) had long since given out, and we were down to one functioning speaker (unless you were fortunate enough to hit a bump at just the right velocity, in which case the other one would kick in). It wasn't always that way, and for our first year of long-distance dating, this vehicle made the marathon 12 hour runs from Alabama to VA more times than we can remember, and did half that distance many times the next year. This car is a big reason why Timon and I were able to stay together during those years. I called it "The Beast" a lot, and for that I feel bad. We're thankful for our new (to us) car, and for the cool comfort it allows with its functioning air-conditioning. But the Mazda will remain legend for a long time to come.
4 comments:
That Mazda must have a lot of stories to tell. It really is sad to say goodbye to her the way you did. We will miss Amazing Mazda!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She's yet another example of not judging a book by its cover!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My favorite (and basically only!) memory of the Mazda was seeing it parked in the shop lot long after it broke down for a while when you first moved to FL... :)
yes, the second one was from me... once, magically, my name started appearing when I would comment, and then, just as magically, it went away. I have no idea why or how...
--a.m.
i've taken pics of all the old cars our family owned
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