The truck that just wouldn't die
For a brief break from all of this disaster, I want to share with you a disaster that we thought the Hurricane might have actually helped - my Father's truck.
If you see below a few posts ago, you'll see the red '95 Chevy Blazer that the tree landed upon and think, like the rest of us did, that it would be the end of the story for this old truck. However, this is the truck that just won't die - mostly due to its owner, my stubborn Dad.
This thing reminds me of the Toyota pickup truck that on the show "Top Gear", they tried their best to destroy - dropping it off of a building, letting it swim in the ocean, setting it on fire, and putting it on top of a building that was about to be imploded - and it still runs. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/topgear/prog25/toyota.shtml) Trucks like this only run b/c of the men who are too stubborn to let go.
This Blazer came to us from my cousin in Mississippi who bought it brand new and just couldn't keep up with the payments, so we bought it from him. I had tons of fun driving it in high school, as it was one of the first SUVs to really come out as popular, and we put hundreds of thousands of miles on this thing. I even recall naming it, "Petey". The thing is, after a car becomes over ten years old and has hundreds of thousands of miles on it, you would think about replacing it with a better vehicle. Perhaps one that doesn't break down once a month, but not my Dad.
A little history about the Blazer: for the past 2-3 years this truck has been on its last leg. I think it was 2 years ago, or maybe just a year ago, my Dad ran over something in the middle of the road that damaged the under chassis. The insurance company said that the cost to fix it is worth more than the truck and they deemed it "totaled" and "unsalvageble". And now they will no longer insure it. Dad didn't care, he took his own money and fixed it and still drove it around.
This truck seems to be in the shop once a month. Dad is saying that the mechanic isn't fixing it all the way, yet he still takes it to the same guy. The guys at this fix-it shop all know his voice on the phone and know him by name, "Mr. Joe", because he is there so often. Dad says this truck runs just fine and there is no reason to get another car which will just mean more car payments and insurance payments. We've tried to donate it to one of those charities, or haul it into a "push, pull, drag" sale at the car dealership where they'll offer $3,000 for anything you can push pull or drag there... but he just won't let us.
All of the items on the dashboard don't work. No spedometer, fuel gauge, oil levels, etc. You can't drive it at night because no matter what bulbs you put in, it doesn't light up the street enough to see where you're going.
Finally, when I saw that tree on top of the truck during the Hurricane, I thought that we were going to see the end of this money-draining vehicle. But no. He has taken the truck to many places for estimates on how to fix it, and although all of the places say to just total it, they'll manage some way to fix it, for a price. And of course he's going to pay to do that.
This truck just won't die. We were at the point of figuring out how to siphon the gas out of it since we didn't think it would go anywhere and with the cost of fuel so high now... but he's driving it - he even drove it to go play 9 holes of golf, and to the store. Bent roof, broken windows, and all. I don't even think the air-conditioner works anymore.
So that is the story of the truck that just won't die, and the stubborn old man who won't give up on it. We celebrated, thinking the hurricane would end it all for this truck, but not as long as the engine starts (after ten minutes of revving and trying), and the truck runs (with loud bangs and black smoke).
If you see below a few posts ago, you'll see the red '95 Chevy Blazer that the tree landed upon and think, like the rest of us did, that it would be the end of the story for this old truck. However, this is the truck that just won't die - mostly due to its owner, my stubborn Dad.
This thing reminds me of the Toyota pickup truck that on the show "Top Gear", they tried their best to destroy - dropping it off of a building, letting it swim in the ocean, setting it on fire, and putting it on top of a building that was about to be imploded - and it still runs. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/topgear/prog25/toyota.shtml) Trucks like this only run b/c of the men who are too stubborn to let go.
This Blazer came to us from my cousin in Mississippi who bought it brand new and just couldn't keep up with the payments, so we bought it from him. I had tons of fun driving it in high school, as it was one of the first SUVs to really come out as popular, and we put hundreds of thousands of miles on this thing. I even recall naming it, "Petey". The thing is, after a car becomes over ten years old and has hundreds of thousands of miles on it, you would think about replacing it with a better vehicle. Perhaps one that doesn't break down once a month, but not my Dad.
A little history about the Blazer: for the past 2-3 years this truck has been on its last leg. I think it was 2 years ago, or maybe just a year ago, my Dad ran over something in the middle of the road that damaged the under chassis. The insurance company said that the cost to fix it is worth more than the truck and they deemed it "totaled" and "unsalvageble". And now they will no longer insure it. Dad didn't care, he took his own money and fixed it and still drove it around.
This truck seems to be in the shop once a month. Dad is saying that the mechanic isn't fixing it all the way, yet he still takes it to the same guy. The guys at this fix-it shop all know his voice on the phone and know him by name, "Mr. Joe", because he is there so often. Dad says this truck runs just fine and there is no reason to get another car which will just mean more car payments and insurance payments. We've tried to donate it to one of those charities, or haul it into a "push, pull, drag" sale at the car dealership where they'll offer $3,000 for anything you can push pull or drag there... but he just won't let us.
All of the items on the dashboard don't work. No spedometer, fuel gauge, oil levels, etc. You can't drive it at night because no matter what bulbs you put in, it doesn't light up the street enough to see where you're going.
Finally, when I saw that tree on top of the truck during the Hurricane, I thought that we were going to see the end of this money-draining vehicle. But no. He has taken the truck to many places for estimates on how to fix it, and although all of the places say to just total it, they'll manage some way to fix it, for a price. And of course he's going to pay to do that.
This truck just won't die. We were at the point of figuring out how to siphon the gas out of it since we didn't think it would go anywhere and with the cost of fuel so high now... but he's driving it - he even drove it to go play 9 holes of golf, and to the store. Bent roof, broken windows, and all. I don't even think the air-conditioner works anymore.
So that is the story of the truck that just won't die, and the stubborn old man who won't give up on it. We celebrated, thinking the hurricane would end it all for this truck, but not as long as the engine starts (after ten minutes of revving and trying), and the truck runs (with loud bangs and black smoke).
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