CARS - February 16, 2019
It came about very quickly and easily, which was a surprise for both of us.
Laur and I had, until a few days ago, a dark green 1997 Cadillac Seville SLS. It came with the park model (house trailer) that we bought here at the Green Valley RV Resort. We chuckled that there wasn’t much difference between the age of our trailer and the age of our car – our trailer, a 1985.
But our trailer didn’t have to be roadworthy – or more importantly for hikers – mountain-worthy.
On Friday – having had what Laur called “Me-Cad” at the repair shop on numerous occasions over the past few months – we noticed our car was particularly steamy and smoky under the hood. We had just driven half way up Madera Canyon. Laur said, “We can’t go for a hike! We’ve got to get this car into the shop!”
To which I responded, “We can’t go anywhere until this car cools down so we might as well go for a hike.” Which we did and during which I listened to a sermon / lecture on dealing with disappointment. (OK, I listened to two – but the second one was about dealing with self-defeating behaviour. Discouragement I can deal with. But change?! Gah!)
On our way down the mountain in our car – watching the temperature gauge very closely – I said to Laur, “Here is a thought. Our car is working fine again; it’s just that in his old age he can’t climb mountains anymore. Instead of going to our mechanic’s, let’s just go to Jim Click’s. It’s on our way home anyway.” (When the car growls, I call it a “he.” When it purrs – a “she.” Sexist, I know.)
If you live in the Green Valley / Tucson area, you’ll have heard of Jim Click. It’s a household name. It’s a phenomenon, actually – with at least a dozen showrooms in the Southern Arizona area. My theory is that it’s because they offer free coffee and sweets – and we old folks love food and freebies.
Laur couldn’t think of any reason to say no other than it was almost suppertime, so off we went. We were immediately greeted by a lovely lad named Aaron. We told him what we wanted – “cheap and able to leap tall mountains” – and he took us for a ride on a golf cart around the used car lot. Travel by golf cart is Southern AZ thing.
I said to Aaron, “You know, I kind of like Korean cars. My daughter and her hubs both have a Kia Seoul and they love them (and my daughter in law is Korean and I have a daughter living in Korea. Yes, that is my idea of extensive research).
And Aaron said, “Have I got a car for you!” He took us back to the dealership and offered us free coffee and cake. That was a deal maker for me, but Laur wanted more info which Aaron was happy to give us. “Only 48,000 miles. One owner. 2008 Santa Fe GLS. Price to be determined but should be about ____.” (You know where this is going.)
I was ready to say, “We’ll take it!” but Laur wanted to see it first. Aaron drove up to Tucson to pick it up, and met us at the dealership the next day (Saturday.) It was grey – matched our hair color. I was content, but Laur wanted to take it for a test drive, and it drove... What did he expect?! Aaron asked if I wanted to drive it and I said, “It really doesn’t matter to me. Laur could bring home a tank and I’d learn how to drive it. I did my driver’s test with a stick-shift when I was nine months pregnant with our third kid – not much more you can throw at me…” Yes, TMI – too much information.
Back to the dealership for the scene we all know is going to happen. Aaron brought us a price from his General Manager Patricia. It was slightly higher than the one we had planned on – and understandably so. Laur looked like the dour Scot that he is, and Aaron made suggestions. I was sitting there just a grinnin’ and Laur was ready to kick me under the table. I was displaying the wrong emotion. But actually I wasn’t – I knew we’ll be driving out of the lot in this car.
Aaron went back to his GM and came back with an offer that met us both half-way. Laur agreed and we signed. And the GM, who I had met the day before, came out for a congratulatory hug. I adore her, just as I adore Aaron. I have listened to documentaries on working in new and used car businesses and it’s a very, very tough gig. Crazy hours, some jobs are commission only, customers can be ridiculously cruel, and you are only one bad news story away – about your major brand – from a month or two in the red. Or worse.
Next, off to the see the finance guy – Madji – another sweetheart. We explained that we could make a down-payment by credit card (which we did,) but it would take a few days to get the money from our Canadian bank into our American bank. No problem! A zillion forms later and we had the keys! Tra da! I wanted to hug him to but he managed to keep his desk in between us.
What, you may be asking, will be happening to our beloved Caddie? Aaron told me it will not show up on a lot – that it will go to auction. It surprised me that I am the one who experienced real grief in giving up this vehicle. At some point during our negotiations, I had to slip back to our trailer to get the ownership papers for the Caddie. Yes, I know, who goes to trade in a car without the ownership papers? Playing on NPR was the Edwin Hawkins Black Gospel version of “Oh Happy Day…” I found it hard to sing the line “and live rejoicing everyday…”
What was my attachment to this car? There were many of them. I loved how happy it made Laur feel to drive it down the highway and talk about how comfortable it was and how it had “great pick up.” I loved how it could swallow up hundreds of dollars of food for the food bank like Jonah’s whale and deliver them safe and sound to the food bank. I loved meeting Rick of Rick’s Roadside Assistance and his dog Remi on numerous occasions. I loved the team at Firestone who did everything they could humanly do to keep this old gal chugging along. I loved getting to know Marvin and Phyllis who sold us this car. I loved all the chats Laur would get into with older men about how this was the best car ever made.
And I guess truly my tears are for this same generation of old men – men like my Dad and my step Dad who LOVED driving these land-yachts. They both served in the Air Force in World War Two and both knew their share of lads who flew out and never came back. They survived physically, but emotionally – well, they could never, would never talk about those times.
But buying a big car was a way of providing protection for their new families that they could not provide for their fellow airmen. My dear sweet Dad asked for nothing in life - except a new car every few years, which he treated with the love of a suitor. And my step Dad bought a new big car when he married my mom – “A new car for a new bride,” he said.
And now these lads are gone, and now these cars are gone.
But Faith continues. Yes, I have named our car “Faith” because Santa Fe means Holy Faith. (Laur calls her “Me-SF.”) And Faith has done her first food bank run, with lots of help from Laur, I must add. And Faith took us over the backroads to and from a rocky hike. Faith will take Laur and I to our volunteer jobs. And as importantly, she’ll make sure we are able to get back without first stopping off at the mechanic’s! 😊
How does the song go? “'Tis Faith has brought me safe thus far / And Faith will lead me home…”
Actually, no it doesn’t. It’s Grace that does that. Ah well, our next car can be called Grace, and that won’t be until about 2040. I’ve had all the change I can’t handle for the next few decades! 😊
Laur and I had, until a few days ago, a dark green 1997 Cadillac Seville SLS. It came with the park model (house trailer) that we bought here at the Green Valley RV Resort. We chuckled that there wasn’t much difference between the age of our trailer and the age of our car – our trailer, a 1985.
But our trailer didn’t have to be roadworthy – or more importantly for hikers – mountain-worthy.
On Friday – having had what Laur called “Me-Cad” at the repair shop on numerous occasions over the past few months – we noticed our car was particularly steamy and smoky under the hood. We had just driven half way up Madera Canyon. Laur said, “We can’t go for a hike! We’ve got to get this car into the shop!”
To which I responded, “We can’t go anywhere until this car cools down so we might as well go for a hike.” Which we did and during which I listened to a sermon / lecture on dealing with disappointment. (OK, I listened to two – but the second one was about dealing with self-defeating behaviour. Discouragement I can deal with. But change?! Gah!)
On our way down the mountain in our car – watching the temperature gauge very closely – I said to Laur, “Here is a thought. Our car is working fine again; it’s just that in his old age he can’t climb mountains anymore. Instead of going to our mechanic’s, let’s just go to Jim Click’s. It’s on our way home anyway.” (When the car growls, I call it a “he.” When it purrs – a “she.” Sexist, I know.)
If you live in the Green Valley / Tucson area, you’ll have heard of Jim Click. It’s a household name. It’s a phenomenon, actually – with at least a dozen showrooms in the Southern Arizona area. My theory is that it’s because they offer free coffee and sweets – and we old folks love food and freebies.
Laur couldn’t think of any reason to say no other than it was almost suppertime, so off we went. We were immediately greeted by a lovely lad named Aaron. We told him what we wanted – “cheap and able to leap tall mountains” – and he took us for a ride on a golf cart around the used car lot. Travel by golf cart is Southern AZ thing.
I said to Aaron, “You know, I kind of like Korean cars. My daughter and her hubs both have a Kia Seoul and they love them (and my daughter in law is Korean and I have a daughter living in Korea. Yes, that is my idea of extensive research).
And Aaron said, “Have I got a car for you!” He took us back to the dealership and offered us free coffee and cake. That was a deal maker for me, but Laur wanted more info which Aaron was happy to give us. “Only 48,000 miles. One owner. 2008 Santa Fe GLS. Price to be determined but should be about ____.” (You know where this is going.)
I was ready to say, “We’ll take it!” but Laur wanted to see it first. Aaron drove up to Tucson to pick it up, and met us at the dealership the next day (Saturday.) It was grey – matched our hair color. I was content, but Laur wanted to take it for a test drive, and it drove... What did he expect?! Aaron asked if I wanted to drive it and I said, “It really doesn’t matter to me. Laur could bring home a tank and I’d learn how to drive it. I did my driver’s test with a stick-shift when I was nine months pregnant with our third kid – not much more you can throw at me…” Yes, TMI – too much information.
Back to the dealership for the scene we all know is going to happen. Aaron brought us a price from his General Manager Patricia. It was slightly higher than the one we had planned on – and understandably so. Laur looked like the dour Scot that he is, and Aaron made suggestions. I was sitting there just a grinnin’ and Laur was ready to kick me under the table. I was displaying the wrong emotion. But actually I wasn’t – I knew we’ll be driving out of the lot in this car.
Aaron went back to his GM and came back with an offer that met us both half-way. Laur agreed and we signed. And the GM, who I had met the day before, came out for a congratulatory hug. I adore her, just as I adore Aaron. I have listened to documentaries on working in new and used car businesses and it’s a very, very tough gig. Crazy hours, some jobs are commission only, customers can be ridiculously cruel, and you are only one bad news story away – about your major brand – from a month or two in the red. Or worse.
Next, off to the see the finance guy – Madji – another sweetheart. We explained that we could make a down-payment by credit card (which we did,) but it would take a few days to get the money from our Canadian bank into our American bank. No problem! A zillion forms later and we had the keys! Tra da! I wanted to hug him to but he managed to keep his desk in between us.
What, you may be asking, will be happening to our beloved Caddie? Aaron told me it will not show up on a lot – that it will go to auction. It surprised me that I am the one who experienced real grief in giving up this vehicle. At some point during our negotiations, I had to slip back to our trailer to get the ownership papers for the Caddie. Yes, I know, who goes to trade in a car without the ownership papers? Playing on NPR was the Edwin Hawkins Black Gospel version of “Oh Happy Day…” I found it hard to sing the line “and live rejoicing everyday…”
What was my attachment to this car? There were many of them. I loved how happy it made Laur feel to drive it down the highway and talk about how comfortable it was and how it had “great pick up.” I loved how it could swallow up hundreds of dollars of food for the food bank like Jonah’s whale and deliver them safe and sound to the food bank. I loved meeting Rick of Rick’s Roadside Assistance and his dog Remi on numerous occasions. I loved the team at Firestone who did everything they could humanly do to keep this old gal chugging along. I loved getting to know Marvin and Phyllis who sold us this car. I loved all the chats Laur would get into with older men about how this was the best car ever made.
And I guess truly my tears are for this same generation of old men – men like my Dad and my step Dad who LOVED driving these land-yachts. They both served in the Air Force in World War Two and both knew their share of lads who flew out and never came back. They survived physically, but emotionally – well, they could never, would never talk about those times.
But buying a big car was a way of providing protection for their new families that they could not provide for their fellow airmen. My dear sweet Dad asked for nothing in life - except a new car every few years, which he treated with the love of a suitor. And my step Dad bought a new big car when he married my mom – “A new car for a new bride,” he said.
And now these lads are gone, and now these cars are gone.
But Faith continues. Yes, I have named our car “Faith” because Santa Fe means Holy Faith. (Laur calls her “Me-SF.”) And Faith has done her first food bank run, with lots of help from Laur, I must add. And Faith took us over the backroads to and from a rocky hike. Faith will take Laur and I to our volunteer jobs. And as importantly, she’ll make sure we are able to get back without first stopping off at the mechanic’s! 😊
How does the song go? “'Tis Faith has brought me safe thus far / And Faith will lead me home…”
Actually, no it doesn’t. It’s Grace that does that. Ah well, our next car can be called Grace, and that won’t be until about 2040. I’ve had all the change I can’t handle for the next few decades! 😊