If Ever You're in My Arms Again..

Ha, you think its all about a dood, huh?

Hardly.

My wonderful fiance has fixed my Corolla. As I drove home from my daughter's high school this morning, the only phrase that came to me, "If Ever You're in my arms again, This time I'll hold you forever."

This car has an odd little story. It first belonged to my ex-husband's wife. Then he drove it for some time to work, just as a commuter car. They decided to buy a newer Corolla, and gave the car to me and my oldest. The intention was that if my oldest son was mature enough to drive, then the car would be his. It came with some mechanical issues, some of which were never fixed until now. Christopher had his permit for some time, yet while driving home from school, he gunned it during a left turn, lost control and I sort of took over - steering it into the curb. Everyone was fine, but the front end was messed up. Some time later it was repaired and Christopher never did get his license (to this day). Don't worry, I have his blessing to keep using the car.

When I left Victorville, the Corolla was all I had.

I have driven the piss out of that car. It's been to Yosemite several times, Sequoia (in the winter, I might add), Phoenix, Sacramento, San Francisco, Mammoth, and Vegas. It's my driving lover.

Just last summer, I drove to Mammoth - got some 34 MPG. Just found out the spark plugs were gapped wrong, so I can expect even better mileage. Take that, new cars!

So a week before we are supposed to go to the SNHA picnic in Sequoia National Park, I start noticing some vibration, but only at speeds exceeding 50 mph. I had the tires rotated and balanced, just in case it was *that* simple. Nope. Took it to a "trusted" repair shop to find out the bearing in the transmission was shot - which was connected to the axle, causing the vibration. So, new transmission needed. Oh, and those issues from before? Motor mounts. Yeah, those were the cause of the now bad bearing (constant vibration). Had I known...

I should note that we ended up driving a car WITHOUT A/C in August, up the middle of California... Would not recommend. This also interfered with plans to Vegas end of August. Had to rent a car for that one. But back to the story.

Here's what hurt the most. People talked. They talked of selling the Corolla, like it was some OLD car that was run down. They said it should be traded in. They said it wasn't worth fixing. I knew they were wrong. I begged for a second chance. It's a god-car - you don't sell cars that are invincible. Instead, you throw in a newer engine when you reach 500k miles.

So tonight I anticipate picking up the Corolla. In some ways, it will be totally new to me. I have never driven it without the constant vibration of bad motor mounts. The driver's side window has NEVER worked. The small oil leak (which I had identified as a valve cover gasket) should be gone. New battery. New door handle (that my father just busted about 6 months ago). Will my car even remember me? Oh - new timing belt. Corolla hasn't seen a new timing belt since it left the factory.

You know, I have never named the car. I feel that it's probably a girl because it keeps functioning (well) even though it needs rest and repair. Very female quality. But it treats me well, like a good man would. I think we need to stop calling it "the Corolla". It is Corolla - the essence of what every small car yearns to be.