Thursday, November 03, 2011

My Dad's Old Car Gets Retired

Last year, you may have remembered me talking about my dad's Oldsmobile that he drove religiously to and from work for the past eight years nearing the end of its life (Read about it HERE). Last week, my dad finally made the decision to retire the old car. It had fallen in too much disrepair and would have needed a large amount of work to get everything working the way it should be. The car ended up with nearly 296,000 miles on it - the most my dad had ever accumulated driving a vehicle. Yes, it probably would have been pretty neat for him to surpass the 300,000 mile mark with it, but with winter fast approaching, it probably was for the best to retire it now rather than risk him driving it during bad weather. As the saying goes, all good things must come to an end.

I am sure you'd be the least bit surprised to know that my dad was a little sad to leave it behind at a local scrap yard. After all, the Oldsmobile proved to be the most reliable car he's ever had, with hardly any major problems to deal with since he owned it. As I mentioned before, it did need a new transmission, but other than that, the car just needed a little bit of minor maintenance every now and again. I know when I drove it for that one year during college, I didn't have one ounce of trouble with it. Now when you intend on buying a car, that's the way you want it to perform, with very little trouble. Obviously we can't all be that lucky, but who knew it would end up being so reliable for my dad when his brother picked it up for him in downstate Michigan and brought it to the U.P. It really did its job perfectly.

My dad has moved on to a different vehicle now to take him to and from work. It ended up being my old car, after I purchased a used vehicle from a dealer about a month in a half ago. Already he has quickly fallen in love with my old Pontiac Grand Prix. Heck, I was a little bit sad myself to see him drive off with it. But I felt it was time for me to upgrade to something a little bit newer - going from a 2001 to a 2009. He's enjoying many of the options that I was able to enjoy with that car - and a lot of those he never had with his Oldsmobile. They include the sun roof, the radio controls on the steering wheel, the speedometer projected onto the windshield, and just a better driving vehicle for himself. He just needs it until the end of next August, and I think he'll get through the winter just fine with it.

After that, what becomes of the Pontiac remains to be seen. My dad and I had discussed selling it once he retires, but then my mom is kind of looking forward to keeping it for awhile, since it is such a good car. My parents won't need nearly as many vehicles when my dad is retired, and there's some discussion that they may end up getting rid of their old 1994 Chevy pick-up. Lots of important decisions lie ahead in the upcoming new year. But one thing is for sure, it's going to take a little bit of time to forget about that Oldsmobile.

No comments: