facing the loss of a friend

[bella]

my car is being sold. yes, my beloved 316i silvery-ivory brown interior monster is finally being sold to some sad old french fool who will pound it into the ground.
after a last trip to manchester, and a last thrash down the local roads (ner, ner, cambridgeshire police) it's time to say goodbye to it over the next week. i'm driving it to france, and i'm planning to go awol somewhere when i get to france. might take it round monaco or something.

whatever, i'm going to have to say goodbye to a very dear friend.

how do you deal with the loss of your car, one which you have spent nights in, and shared some very happy memories with (including a particuarly memorable 118mph on the m1)?

[elephino]

Well, having never had to say goodbye to a car I've liked before it has never been difficult. I'll let you know when I replace the car I currently have.

[Craig]

I'll miss your old motor, bella! The sight of TimD's face when you arrived in it made it an instand favourite!!

[Airhead]

Bella,
Your folks have pulled the pin on the Beemer before you. Usually when it's your decision your glad to see the back of 'em. When mine have gone it is because they have passed to the other side already.

[Ray Bell]

Easiest way is to have something exciting to replace it... I remember when I used to have my first 403, with a floorchange, it was pretty good to me and I had it longer than any other car I'd had at that stage... but I never had anything long because my father was dealing in used cars and kept finding things for me....

Anyway, along came the chance to buy an Austin Healey with a bit of a dent in one corner... had to sell the Pug to get it... but it took too long and I never got the Healey, but I'd found myself happy to sell the Pug... regretted it later, though, when I finished up in Simcas...

[FordPrefect]

I cry like a baby when I have to say goodbye.




....even when it's a Chevy Lumina with a habit of eating it's brakes every six months.

[Ray Bell]

Who is this FordPrefect person?

Who let him in here?

Welcome, Fordy... how long you been hanging around?

[bella]

*sniff*
we're off to france this afternoon in it, so let's see if there's still life in the old dog yet...

the worry is, we have a week to find something to replace it, otherwise i'm using the work cars for race-going till we find something nice... 5 series 2.0 litre estate here i come... hardly a pulling wagon, but it'll do (nice stereo...). of couse, all short distances can be covered by the 100% evil suzuki jeep, but that thing causes shaken baby syndrome...

will report back in a week. the new car..the saga continues...

*please don't break down in the middle of france, please don't break down in the middle of france...*

[FordPrefect]

Been dropping in for well over a year, decided to post in the NASCAR forum in July.

I am still looking for your "drag racing forum", you do a good job of hiding it

getting back on topic...... when saying goodbye do you ever take a souvenir off the car? I have on the odd occasion, got a Z28 grill emblem from my '69, an Olds trunk badge from the '78. I had the 1.17 liter sign from the Prefect's hood but it got lost in the mists of time.

FP

[Bluebottle]

. when saying goodbye do you ever take a souvenir off the car?

I still have the reg. plate from my first car, a mk3 Escort estate. The plate bears the scars of an incident in which my flatmate, in a foul mood after a 'discussion' with his girlfriend, reversed his car out of his space straight into the front of my poor old Escort "because I'd parked it in a different place" He returned to sheepishly tell me about the damage, and was most confused (and relieved) when I just fell about laughing!!

I also have a broken Allycat wheel from my old Dutton Melos- it hit a kerbstone when I had the unfortunate combination of the the bonnet coming open and the clutch cable breaking at the same time! (only one of those two things was my fault, I always double check bonnet fixings now!)

The only other thing I have from an old car is a set of keys for my 1965 Landrover- I really must give them to the current owner!

I can't seem to get rid of my Dutton Sierra, so the whole car is a souvenir!

[Ray Bell]

Souvenirs? Do you mean like spare parts?

Usually I get cars when they are old and drive them till they are dead, so I get to keep whatever I like! Some bits from my old cars keep my new cars going for years more... it's an interesting life when you start looking at the bits that have a thread through a succession of cars!

[Diabando]

Keeping bits is the best way

Like Ray, I have seen the last years of most of my cars, and for each one, I have keys, the RACV tag, and the odd badge or two. When a car has been hard to part with, I have found that keeping these sorts of things has been worth it. Kinda makes you feel you still have a little of that car (which, in fact, you do!).

Bella - is it too late to remove a small badge from the 316i???

[Craig]

I tried nicking the bimmer badge off the bonnet last weekend, but the silly bint went mad and hit me!

[Ray Bell]

Originally posted by Diabando
Like Ray, I have seen the last years of most of my cars, ... I have keys...

Yeah, I kept a lot of keys... and the locks too, just in case I'd need them in the next one if a lock failed!

Practical to the end!

One thing I had as a keepsake for a long time was the bonnet mascot from my 203... the lion with his mouth open facing into the wind. I used to pull up close behind trucks at traffic lights and put the mouth around the lip of the tray just for fun, knocked out a couple of teeth!