Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/116528
Bloody Knuckles CHANGING LANES the most part, but even new cars can be unreliable when they are built on a Monday morning by hung over factory workers. Luckily, I haven't had very many problems with my cars over the past 30 years or so, even though I mostly buy used these days and keep Ol' Red as my daily. I bought the old Jeep new and have been doing the maintenance on it for a quarter of a century and in all that time it has only let me down one time. As for buying other vehicles, I insist on seeing the maintenance records. In fact, if the owner doesn't have a paperwork trail to show me, I walk away from the deal. I figure that if they can be bothered to keep a folder of service tickets, they probably can't be bothered to keep a regular maintenance schedule, either. So far, my system had kept my family in a series of reliable used cars with a minimum of hassles. That doesn't mean that I am immune to a good sales pitch, however. Just last month I obtained a gem of car that the owner swears she mainly drove only to church on Sunday. Now except for the seat cushion on the driver's side, which is collapsed, this little car appears to be in mint condition. It runs perfectly, has excellent rubber and in all ways it does not appear to be as old as it is. In fact, the car runs so well that I didn't give it a second thought when I took a three hour bus ride to pick it up and then drove it home 156 miles without even checking the oil! I knew that the car was a winner because the previous owner is my mother. 10 bloody knuckles 0413 cl.indd 3 Mom is a meticulous car owner. I went with her when she bought her Ford Escort back in 1989, and since then it has been maintained only by the local Ford dealer – except for tires, which she purchases from a local big name tire store. When Mom handed me the keys, she also handed over a large envelope containing all the paper work from the original Moroni sticker to the latest oil & filter change. I learned from reading the service tickets that this little car has 283,319 miles on the clock; the odo only goes to 99,999 and tick over to zero. The service tickets tell the mileage and the maintenance story and it is obvious that Mom didn't always drive it only to and from church. In fact, she's driven the car up and down the west coast about a dozen times, across country twice and on numerous journeys through four states to visit her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren over the years. But time catches up with all of us and at 89 years old, Mom decided to stop driving, which is why she gave the car to me. She figured that since I am as particular about maintenance as she is, I'll take good care of her little chariot. She's right, of course, I'll keep up on the maintenance, but I'll do it myself instead of taking it to the dealer. I figure that the little Ford will go about 320,000 before it truly starts getting tired. Not too bad for a car that was only "driven to church on Sundays." APRIL 2013 // WWW.CHANGINGLANESDIGITAL.COM 3/5/13 2:26 PM