My car is still all kinds of awesome

[DeeBye]

I recently posted about how my very old car is in incredible shape, and I'm here to add another bragging notch in my fan belt.

I'm the very proud owner of a 1987 Toyota Camry. It's in very good shape. I bought it off my grandfather last year, and he was very anal about keeping his car in tip-top condition. When I took possesion of the car, it had less than 100,000 kilometers on it and not a spot of rust.

I plan on taking my 17 year old Camry on a bit of an extended road trip next weekend, so I wanted to be sure it was prepared for the journey. I made an appointment with my local Toyota dealership to have the oil changed and an in-depth maintenance check done on it.

I fully expected my Camry to have required some maintenance. After all, it's 17 years old. I also figured that the maintenance department would have looked "extra hard" for something wrong with my car to nessecitate a few hundred dollars worth of repairs.

I was blown away when the report came back to me. There is nothing wrong with my car. Zip. Zilch. Nada.

To quote the service tech, "It's in perfect condition". My car has never had any major engine work done, and the most costly repair performed was a brake job a couple of years ago. The Toyota service guy sees no reason why my car won't last me another 10 years.

I'm not quite sure what the point of this post is. I definitely want to brag about my car, but I'm also wondering if anyone else has had amazing luck with cars.

[Munkay]

When I was younger my dad received a call from a buddy of his who was a BMW mechanic. He had just recieved a 1990 5 series, and offered my father first look. The car had 110k miles on it, but had been on brought to every 10k mile inspection, without any major work needing to be done. The price was cheap because the engine block itself had cracked. :blink: The previous owner sold the car without fixing it and wanted nothing to do with it. The mechanic replaced the entire top half of the engine and cleaned it out, top to bottom. Of course I was overjoyed at the prospect of not only owning a BMW, but one with leather seats. We picked up the car and it was love at first site.

It was beautiful. It was white. I spent the next few years practically living in it. I loved it. I even considered getting vanity plates that said Artex (Yes, that's right... The horse Atreyu rides in The Never Ending Story) I put 4-5k miles on the car a month, and continued to get it checked every 10k miles.

I began to have withdrawls when I went to school in Boston, land worried about baby car all alone up in the stifling cold of a New Hampshire winter (well, I wasn't that worried). Whenever I popped home over the winter I was sure to run the engine, keep up with the antifreeze and oil, and made sure my dad regularly ran the engine.

Spring comes, and my dad decides to take the car for a quick drive.

The Engine Block Cracks. :blink:

Can't help but laugh.

-Munk

[Freepaperclips]

I have a 1984 Jag XJ6 that I have spent less then $80 on it in the four years I've owned it, including oil. Every two months I go out and check the oil, and it's always perfectly clear. After a while of head scratching, I told a mechanic about it and he had look at it. He decided that the car loves me and told me to go away before one of his other customers heard me. :lol:

[Rhydderch Hael]

You are sooo asking for the wrath of Murphy by doing this.

Tomorrow, you'll wake up and look out your window to the sight of a smoking crater, a pranged-up UFO, and a Roswell Grey (who's high on M&Ms) sitting where your car used to be.

[Freepaperclips]

Wouldn't it be worth it for the story?

[Munkay]

The pictures he takes could keep him company on the long walk to work. :lol:

-Munk

[Freepaperclips]

We have a great bus system. ;)

[NiteFox]

The pictures he takes could keep him company on the long walk to work.  :lol:

-Munk

Screw that. Now he has a slightly-damaged UFO to fly to work and a body to send to Fox for Alien Autopsy II. He's freakin' made.

[[wcip]Angel]

The insane thing is, there's probably a nerd out there who actually has those plates :)