The Car

My wife loved our Civic. It was a gift from her parents during college. Thus it was a little bit of a shock when when we came back from vacation to find it painted purple. You can read a bit more about it herein the Jalopnik PBR Article. She was understandably taken aback, even if the car had been getting a little long in the tooth.

My workmates had made a few miscalculations in their planning. First they didn't realize that the junker that I drove to work every day had any emotional value. They assumed that we'd return, laugh a bit, and then I'd finally buy the S2000 that I had been talking about. It sort of happened that way. I laughed, and then drove the car for another 6 months before getting my new(ish) honda. Leslie didn't laugh. She had this reaction:



That wasn't a lucky shot of her reaction. That was the pose that she held for nearly 30 minutes. She made me swear not to tell her parents. They didn't find out until over 2 years later.

When we put together the team that would become Turbo Schnitzel that ran in the first LeMons South, I had hoped to use the civic as our car. After all, it's already got an obnoxious paint job. Unfortunately I was voted down as my teammates wanted a more exciting car. We ended up with an '87 Merkur that blew two head gaskets, dropped the exhaust and boiled our brake fluid with a burnt wheel bearing. Exciting indeed.

This time around it's the natural candidate. Roomy enough for a giant fan and no turbo to blow up the engine with. It also happens to be sitting in my driveway, rotting slowly away. It's not without its problems:

1. Dead battery.
2. Only starts on 1/3 of key turns.
3. Leaks coolant.
4. Overheats (see #3).
5. Runs on what seems like 3 cylinders even when it does start.