06-28-2022, 06:14 AM
Since we touched on cars, I ran into one of my old ones last month. I bought a Ford Five Hundred when they came out in '05. The big, lunchbox of a car that nobody bought west of the Mississippi. When I stopped for gas, people were surprised that Ford made a full-size sedan that wasn't a taxi or a police car. It was a nice compliment to my Mustang, and I kept it for 10 years because it had a huge trunk, was comfy, and didn't ask for anything but an oil change every now and then. Since people didn't know what the heck it was due to its relative rarity in California, I put Galaxie badges on it as a goof. Mrs. Gone started driving it when I began commuting full-time on motorcycles.
In 2015, when Mrs. Gone went into travelling nursing, the Ford had 140k on the clock, and we put her in a newer Honda. I got a phone call from someone within a few hours of listing the Ford - the secretary for the owner of a local company. Seems his 18 year-old daughter had just wrecked her brand new first car, and he wanted to put her in a cheap car that was huge, so that when she inevitably wrecked it, she wouldn't be injured. I coordinated with the secretary to bring the young girl over to look at the Ford. She was so disinterested that she didn't even get out of the lady's car to come look at it, and when I offered to let her test drive it, she just stared at her phone and said "whatever, it's just a stupid car." We exchanged cash and paperwork, and I assumed it would be in a wrecking yard within months.
Lo and behold, just last month, while taking my motorcycle-only shortcut through the park near my house, there it was, still spotless, and still sporting its Galaxie badges, parked near the jogging trail. I couldn't believe it.
In 2015, when Mrs. Gone went into travelling nursing, the Ford had 140k on the clock, and we put her in a newer Honda. I got a phone call from someone within a few hours of listing the Ford - the secretary for the owner of a local company. Seems his 18 year-old daughter had just wrecked her brand new first car, and he wanted to put her in a cheap car that was huge, so that when she inevitably wrecked it, she wouldn't be injured. I coordinated with the secretary to bring the young girl over to look at the Ford. She was so disinterested that she didn't even get out of the lady's car to come look at it, and when I offered to let her test drive it, she just stared at her phone and said "whatever, it's just a stupid car." We exchanged cash and paperwork, and I assumed it would be in a wrecking yard within months.
Lo and behold, just last month, while taking my motorcycle-only shortcut through the park near my house, there it was, still spotless, and still sporting its Galaxie badges, parked near the jogging trail. I couldn't believe it.