The Thrill is Gone

I was lucky enough to import a 1994 Saturn from the New York relatives in 1997. I've had the car for a full 12 years, and it's time is up. The previous car was a dealer-maintained Jetta, a very expensive option. With the Saturn, I opted to work with Speedy and a local garage called MacConnell's. I was quite pleased with this setup as it dropped the maintenance by a good 50% annually.

Once I decided to leave Dal, I also decided to maintain the car at an even lower level. This decison was made easier because the car developed a timing chain problem, which meant that it could turn into a very heavy door-stop at any given moment.

The thrill was the fact that the car continued to provide basic, safe transportation without a lot of input from me. I was amazed everyday that it kept going.

I re-cycled the car with a federal program called 'RetireYourRide'. Appropriately, I retired the car the same day I signed the papers to leave Dal. The car owed me nothing the past 2 years and I have been very pleased with it the entire time I owned it. It always started. Always.

The Thrill is Gone.