Been a while since I made a post. I think I kept putting this one off because I knew it was going to be a long one to write. Let's see how far I get.
I took a trip down to Red Deer this Christmas season to visit my family and long-lost red deer friends. Gifts were given, fun was had, and generally speaking everything was pretty awesome. In this post however, I am going to be focusing on the various car-related trials and tribulations I had to endure while enjoying my Christmas.
In retrospect, I guess I'm lucky the van didn't break down on Highway 2 like the ol' Mazda did earlier last year. The van was showing no signs of strain or making any weird noises leading up to its colossal crap-out on Christmas Eve as I was finishing my shopping. As I was slowing down approaching a red light, it just died suddenly. And this was on one of those streets where you rarely see any vehicles, but of course (possibly due to the abundance of other last-minute shoppers like myself) this was the day when traffic was backed up to the other side of town. To my surprise most people offered assistance and the only dirty looks I got were from a elderly couple who appeared to think I was committing some kind of heinous evil by standing next to a van on the side of the road. Eventually some guys stopped and helped me push it onto a nearby side road where it was out of the way of most of the traffic. I called my sister and she brought her AMA card and got the van towed back to the house where it still sits to the day I'm writing this.
After boxing day, my dad and my brother and I drove to Calgary to look at some used cars. The first one we saw was too much of a fixer-upper and had a constant crunching noise whenever the clutch WASN'T in. The second one was a nice little '97 Honda Accord which we eventually decided on. Going to look at the third car was quite an adventure. First off, we called the guy and rather than having us meet him at his home, he insisted we meet him at a Macs. When he pulled showed up we could already tell something was off. We were supposed to be looking at a Honda, but this car had a plan no-name grill instead of the "H" logo. Also, when talking to any of us he kept saying "my friend." I don't know this guy. I'm not his friend. We decided to be polite and take it for a test drive anyway and then just get the hell out of there. We drove about six feet before we heard cop-sirens and saw flashing lights behind us in the Macs parking lot. We were told by the police to stay in the car while "our friend" assured us that there must be some mistake. They took him out of the car and questioned him and then each of us. It turned out that in addition to being made of salvaged parts, the car wasn't insured and the guy had no registration. My dad was almost given a hefty ticket for being the one driving at the time, but it was only six feet and they must have believed that we were just test driving it. So we peace'd the hell outta there when the cops said it was ok, and went and got some lunch. The guy had the audacity to call a little later to ask if we were still interested in the car.
Fast forward a week or so. I'm back in Edmonton with my new '97 Honda Accord. It's running great with no problems. The weather drops to the -30-ish zone and it refuses to start. I didn't think much of it because most other people's cars weren't starting either. But when it warmed up mine still had to be boosted, and even after driving around for a half hour after being boosted it didn't keep a charge. So apparently, this car's battery decided to wait until I had the car to just die. Either that or Calgary's winters made it soft. Either way, I found myself buying a new battery for my new vehicle, just like I had done for the van 2 weeks before it died.
....Maybe I'll just start taking the bus.
07:58 PM
After boxing day, my dad and my brother and I drove to Calgary to look at some used cars. The first one we saw was too much of a fixer-upper and had a constant crunching noise whenever the clutch WASN'T in. The second one was a nice little '97 Honda Accord which we eventually decided on. Going to look at the third car was quite an adventure. First off, we called the guy and rather than having us meet him at his home, he insisted we meet him at a Macs. When he pulled showed up we could already tell something was off. We were supposed to be looking at a Honda, but this car had a plan no-name grill instead of the "H" logo. Also, when talking to any of us he kept saying "my friend." I don't know this guy. I'm not his friend. We decided to be polite and take it for a test drive anyway and then just get the hell out of there. We drove about six feet before we heard cop-sirens and saw flashing lights behind us in the Macs parking lot. We were told by the police to stay in the car while "our friend" assured us that there must be some mistake. They took him out of the car and questioned him and then each of us. It turned out that in addition to being made of salvaged parts, the car wasn't insured and the guy had no registration. My dad was almost given a hefty ticket for being the one driving at the time, but it was only six feet and they must have believed that we were just test driving it. So we peace'd the hell outta there when the cops said it was ok, and went and got some lunch. The guy had the audacity to call a little later to ask if we were still interested in the car.
Fast forward a week or so. I'm back in Edmonton with my new '97 Honda Accord. It's running great with no problems. The weather drops to the -30-ish zone and it refuses to start. I didn't think much of it because most other people's cars weren't starting either. But when it warmed up mine still had to be boosted, and even after driving around for a half hour after being boosted it didn't keep a charge. So apparently, this car's battery decided to wait until I had the car to just die. Either that or Calgary's winters made it soft. Either way, I found myself buying a new battery for my new vehicle, just like I had done for the van 2 weeks before it died.
....Maybe I'll just start taking the bus.
07:58 PM