Cars: “Tracey”

Day 274

In the summer of ‘95 I stopped driving the Dodge Caravan and got my own car: an ‘85 Plymouth Horizon. It was a nice, little red car. And for several months this car was very reliable and functional. But then little things began to happen and this car soon became a huge pain in my butt!

I had a couple of flat tires; then there were some problems with the horn and it would get stuck. I remember one time I had the car parked in front of the house and in the middle of the night the horn sounded and I could not get it to stop. It got to the point that my dad cut the wire to permanently disable it. But this was just the beginning of the end.

On one occasion my car just up and died on me when I was at a stop light on the highway, in the left-turn lane. I was stranded, panicked and freaked out! I had no way of contacting anyone (this was Pre-Cell Phone days!), so I had to walk to the nearest place with a pay phone. Eventually the car got towed away and I had it taken to a repair shop to fix it.

After spending what seemed like a fortune to get it fixed once I was fed up! It was time to get a new car! In September of ‘96 I got my first brand new car: a ‘97 Mercury Tracer. This car was perfect! I was so excited to have a new car, a car that wouldn’t break down on the road or have its horn go off at odd times.

I decided to name my car “Tracey”, as that seemed to be what was missing with my previous car (and might have jinxed it in the first place). And to this day it is still “Tracey” and me. She has been the most reliable car I have ever had. And she is still running great! I’ve had a couple of flat tires, but the car itself hasn’t caused me any trouble.

I can’t believe that I have had this car for almost 15 years!! It’s unbelievable! And while it may be time for me to get another car, I feel like it would be a betrayal to “Tracey”, so I’ve decided to just drive this car until she won’t run anymore. It’s the least I can do for her!