I remember the day I bought my 1974 Volkswagen Beetle. I was able to experience a dream of mine become a reality.
When I was a child, I used to always say that “I will one day own a Beetle.” I finally got the car that I always wanted, however, the car started to cost me more than I had bought it for. I had big plans for this classic beauty, which I named Classy a.k.a Class. He was a running project with so much potential just like everything else in life… right?
Well a few weeks after, I started to notice all the work and money I was putting into Class. The car had a very bad oil leak and, eventually, the drums needed to be replaced. The electrical system never really worked at all. On top of all that, I had to rebuild the carburetor, get the master cylinder replaced, and then the starter messed up on me TWICE. Eventually, I had to fix the oil leak and the brakes AGAIN. This is not including the normal car services you have to give your car such as tune ups, tires, and car insurance, which are not cheap if I might add. I was already on the urge to blow up and I began to think, “Wow, really man!? What else!? How much time and work does a car need to stay running?” Honestly, by this time, it had only been the beginning of month two with Class. I realized that I bought someone else’s headache.
The man I bought Class from seemed to be a nice guy and he also made it clear to me that there was “NOTHING wrong with the car”, which I think he left out “for the moment” because he knew what he was selling me was a P.O.S.
Today I got up to move my car from an area I could not be parked at because it is street cleaning day. I get in my car and warmed it up like usual. As I start to drive away, after two or three minutes, the car completely shuts off on me. I could but then I couldn’t really believe it because I had just put gasoline in the car so it couldn’t have just ran out of gas but then again I thought to myself, “Yup, this would happen right when I have to go to work. Huh?”
This had just happen to me in a wrong time and especially at a wrong place because there was no place I could park Class because of the street cleaning and there were so many other cars around me looking for a parking spot. Not to mention, I had to find a new parking spot by PUSHING my car up or down a hill. As I stopped somewhere to relax, I called my girlfriend to tell her what happened and she came to my rescue. We finally found a parking spot and I told my girlfriend to stand there. As she was standing there, some rude women with her big truck tried to run over my girlfriend to claim that spot when we clearly had that spot. After noticing this, I rushed over there and left my car in the middle of the street and told that woman to leave. The woman was saying, “I am already here with my car and I have been looking for a spot for twenty minutes.” And we shouted, “Oh yeah? We have been waiting for almost two hours for a parking spot!” (The things we go through for a parking spot. Huh?) As the woman left, I was pushing the car to the spot and I was definitely struggling. As I got closer, my girlfriend tried to help (as she states, “That car was way too heavy to move.” Even though it is such a small car it is made out of steel.) As we were moving the car, a gentleman helped us move the car into the parking space.
After that, I thanked the man for being so thoughtful for helping us out. He replied, “No problem. I always see that car parked around here. It’s a really cool car. I really like it.” (Light bulb!)
By this time, I was completely fed up with the car and I had already been trying to find a buyer for the car. Sadly, nobody was buying it because of all the problems the car had. So I told the guy, “You know, if you want it I’ll just give it to you.” He replied out of breath from moving the car, “Yeah right?” And I said, “No, really. I’ll give you the title right now. Just take it. I can’t deal with this car anymore.” He couldn’t believe that I was willing to give him a car. I mean, I wouldn’t believe it either! He thought I was yanking his chain but I was dead serious. Plus, I already have another car that runs great so I’m not really losing much. I was actually winning in my case. I showed the guy my license and the title and he saw that it was my car and I signed the slip and there it was the ending of one of my responsibilities. A great weight lifted off my shoulders.
Even though, getting rid of Class was the right thing to do it still depresses me because I loved that car. It was my dream car.
So long Classy.
