Monday, May 10, 2010

My Favourite Car - Part 2

You have been very patient waiting for Part 2 - there was a reason you had to wait. My favourite vehicle is my 2004 Dodge Ram. My registration calls the colour red (?) but Chrysler calls it Molten Lava Red. There are lots of reasons I am fond of my truck. Six people can fit in it very comfortably. It is a working vehicle - I use it to haul tools and garden debris 5 days a week. So it has lots of scratches. It is my office too. I often do paperwork in it. I love all the storage under the seats and in the fold down centre seat armrest (which also serves as my desk). All those hiding spots mean my kleenex and wipes (necessary before lunch after a morning of playing in dirt), pens, sunglasses, phone charger, gardening gloves, small tools, sunscreen, bug spray etc all have a home.

I don't like the gas mileage but it is not our primary vehicle. I don't put on a lot of miles driving in our little town. It sucks in snow unless I - well Connor actually - puts lots of sandbags in the bed. It has 20 inch tires (most trucks have 16 or 17 inch). They are not common and therefore more expensive. I bought winter tires in the fall of 2008 and all season tires this spring. They were $1000 a set. Thanks to those expensive tires I use next to no windshield fluid as my windshield is higher than most other vehicles on the road. Does that make up for the extra gas?

Even when I am not working the truck is. It hauls Connor's bike (and usually his friend's bikes) places. It is so much easier than putting on the bike rack. It takes Connor (and friends) snowboarding. I am happy the wet snowboard goes in the bed. It helps people move and drives kids to college. It has made many trips to the dump with construction debris. And it is useful for jumping into snowbanks and holding onto when learning how to unicycle.

Today was a special day for my truck. As I pulled up to Connor's work the odometer hit 99,999 km. On the way home it hit this milestone (ignore the dust remember it is a working vehicle)

and it is now sitting in the driveway showing this:


It is a bittersweet day - I feel I should buy a cake and celebrate. It has been a great vehicle - the only work has been brakes and oil changes but the clock is ticking towards bigger repairs. And she has a little rust spot at the bottom of the tailgate. Sob.

Each of our other vehicles had a purpose and when we sold or outgrew it it was gone without a second thought (except for the Cutlass Ciera - I missed that one). I think this is the first vehicle I would be happy to own again. Though I hope that is many years away.

8 comments:

SusanE said...

She's a beauty. I love the colour.

My next vehicle is likely to be a pickup.

Laura said...

I like the Tacoma. It is not really a mini truck but not a full size either.

Fiddling Granny said...

We have a dodge ram too. Big, nasty ass, workin' truck. It's a 3500 diesel with duellies.

It pulls our trailer like it's nuthin'.

All we need is the shotgun in the rear window!

Laura said...

I think a 1500 is plenty big enough for me! Parking is hard enough as it is.

Cherylinn said...

We are on our second dodge ram 1500 and it rocks! Our lease comes up on our 2007 in early August and now we are deciding if we want to purchase it or get a new one. Problem is, John works on each and every vehicle daily and knows all the design faults and engineer screw ups. The dodge is no exception.

I love my 20 inch tires and that is a feature for me, I love the interior design, but I don't like the exterior look of the new dodge rams.....

We still have time to decide what to do after all it's only mid May.

I LOVE the colour of your dodge.

Fiddling Granny said...

Yeah, ours doesn't fit into a lot of store parking lots, it's a big dude. LOL

One of my other favourite cars was the little teal blue Austin Mini. It looked just like Mr Bean's car except the colour. I loved that car. It ran on the smell of an oil rag. I remember once putting in 16¢ worth of gas. (It's all I had.) It got me home from work with some to spare.

Laura said...

I knew Cheryl had a Ram. I didn't know FG did too. What does Gryper drive? If his is a Ram too I think Susan should get one too and forget the Tacoma.

Country Girl said...

My car is almost there, and it is only a 2007. I guess thats what a few trips across Canada does. I put on 70,000 in two years.