What’s old, painted red, and costing me way too much money?

Nope, not the house! Though it is also all of those things, today I’m talking about the car. It’s gotten in the way a good bit lately. You see, my hood hinge started to crack. Which means there was very little holding the hood onto the car and I had my annual scare about having to buy a new car. Now is NOT a good time!

But I decided to try to fix everything I’ve been ignoring. My driver’s door has been stuck shut for 6 months and the rear suspension was wrecked. Might have something to do with all that plaster I piled on the back seat and in the trunk. Or the radiators?

And the hood itself wasn’t quite right to begin with. It sounds like maybe the salesman rigged it with that fence tie to hide the problem from her. But in the end it stopped working.

And instead I rigged it wit hood pins. Remember this shot from the last time I complained about my car?

But everything hinged on this much more serious new hood problem. So when I found that I could get a hood, hings and all, up near Reading, I was elated. I left work a bit early and headed up, and one of the guys at the place drove me up through the junk yard. This was totally amazing. It looked like a parking lot for a music festival, except all the cars were opened up and had lots of parts missing. But would you believe that the hinges were gone? They didn’t go up and check the car when I called to inquire, just assumed they’d be there. They sourced the one I needed from another junkyard, for another 20 bucks, and I had to make the drive a second time after it was delivered. Another evening lost, but at least driving in the country is pretty.

And so on Friday we got started. Off came the old hood, and the hinge snapped with just a little tug. But to get it out we had to undo like everything. Why do they make cars like this? So it got dark and we covered it with a tarp. Classy.

Classier still, the old hood is now bent in half and plopped into the ivy next to my parents’ driveway. Mommy is not happy about this. And the best/worst part is that plot of ivy is on the neighbor’s property, I think. This will head to the Crooked house after work on Tuesday. The night before trash day the scrappers come around and they’ll carry it away for me.

And then I did something really weird. Like, totally not something I’d ever do. I washed my car. The scrap yard dirt was pretty intense. And no. I’m not repainting it. I don’t like to part with my money, unless it’s for essential things like enormously expensive historically accurate woodwork.

So crisis averted! (And the crisis would have been choosing between dumping all my money in a car or taking out a loan. And I don’t really want to take out a loan where I’m guaranteed to have negative equity the next week) Have one more look at this thing of beauty.