That Went Well...(Yes, Another Post About Cars... Sheesh!)

I am a basically inept mechanic. Couple this fact with the traits of being curious and essentially fearless and you have a recipe for disaster. But I like to tinker and I can figure most things out, even if it takes some time, some knuckle blood and enough effbombs to make Rahm Emanuel grasp his rosary cross himself.

Today all my parts came in from e-bay and NAPA to fix my car' s many maladies. You will no doubt recall the driver door window stopped working halfway between hither and yon, the driver door lock hasn't worked in over a year, (with the a brief exception when I affected a temporary redneck fix), and the automatic climate control has only blown out of the defrost for two years making the car uncomfortable to drive in any season.

In a recent post, I told you I ordered e-bay parts and a NAPA part for something less than $200.00 including shipping. They arrived today as described, except for the window switches which were in pretty rough shape. Some elbow grease and a super-secret, (and very likely carcinogenic), homemade chemical compound of my own design restored them to like-new. I went ahead and installed the parts.

It went well. Quick. Painless. No swearing, no blood, no spare parts. Everything worked the first time and has continued to work several hours on, in spite of the fact I have rigorously tested, (i.e. tried to break), the parts and systems. I even got it done before the rain and thunder overtook us.

Truly, this is a sign of the end of days. It never works like this for me. I always run into some sort of situation and need to consult a professional who invariably says things like, "Never seen this before..." and "How on earth did you manage that?" I don't like to be there when this happens, so I always drop the car off the night before and steal away like a thief in the night, furtive look and all. But I know it has happened, because I have to eventually pick the car up and pay. When I do, people come out of their little hidy-holes to look and snicker.

This time, I wasn't going anywhere I hadn't gone before. No new frontiers were established, just fixing the old broken frontiers. Fine with me.

I saved about $1,000.00 over what would have been charged to me if I had the dealer do this work. I wish I could turn the clock back and do the air compressor I had the dealer change at the cost of $600.00 plus dollars when I could have e-bought the part and done it myself for less than $200.00.

Such is life.

Now that everything, (literally everything!), works again as it should on the car, I have put it up on Craig's List. This is nothing new for me. I spent much money and shed much blood sorting out Emily's first car, a Grand Am named Bo. Bo was in sorry shape and very unreliable.

I fixed it all, said I never wanted to see the car again and sold it to friends. This is usually a no-no, but I replaced every damn piece on that car, so what could go wrong? Beside, they knew of the hassle it had given us.

They paid me more than a fair price for it and guess what... still running and they are still friends. The car is serving someone in their extended family. That was 2001. I figure all the time and effort I have put into maintaining this one, someone is going to get a stout car that will last forever and never cost them one red cent outside of gas.

Good for them.

I drove a new car today that I have decided is perfect for me. I don't need the leather and the filigree and the foof-de-do that I thought I did. It is still just this much more than I wanted to pay, even with $100.00 over invoice pricing with $4,000.00 cash back. But that's just what cars cost these days. It is equivalent to what a year or two old examples with 30,000 miles or more are trading for. It is, in short, a good deal.

It's really a shame I am on the top side of this equation rather than the recipient of people like me who take good care of their things and pass them along for reasonable money to people who can use them for many more years. But, that's the way it is. I provide a service to the lower end of the socio-economic spectrum (where I actually live, despite my best efforts to prove otherwise), although mostly to my own financial peril. I figure we walk (or drive) on this earth for a pretty short time. We should at least like our car.

Wish me luck on the sale! And if you know of anyone who wants a 2006 Mercury Grand Marquis with 100% new parts, send them my way. It's a pretty, comfortable, and safe car. And nothing else could possibly go wrong with it.