The Beginning

Buick was born in Springfield, and was lucky enough to attend WUSTL in its youth before settling down with good folk in Chambana. A conservative car, it only had two owners in its life.

I met Buick when I was looking to sell my old TV and my friend was looking to find a good home for it. Seeing a mutually beneficial opportunity, a trade was arranged.

It’s amusing to notice it all started with a car and TV upgrade: this time I’m finding myself with a new car and passing on the Buick, and friend I got it from just upgraded to a new TV.

Oh the Places You’ve Gone

• Many trips to WI
• Many trips down to southern IL

This past summer, we gave the Buick one last hurrah and drove down to St. Louis for a weekend vacation, even stopping off at its birthplace on the return trip. As always, it served us well.

The Last Days

Other than a minor alternator replacement a few years ago, Buick always hid its age well. However, recently it started to show signs that its time has come:

• Driver-side door doesn’t close properly
• Repair shop borked R12->R134A upgrade, killing A/C
• Blinker unit broken, apparently non-trivial to fix (??)
• Large piece of undercarriage fell off in WI somewhere
• Rear-view mirror fell off
• Original hubcaps stolen, attempted to steal car (lots of interior damage)
• Gas mileage plummeted
• Rust creeping everywhere

So the decision was made to move on and let Buick rest in peace (pieces?). Also, the safety of driving it was rather questionable at this point…

A New Chapter

Replacing the old car is one of many changes I’ve been making lately, an easy example being this website.

That said, the old adage about old friends being gold comes to mind and indeed there are good things about the previous chapter that will be missed.

As they say, your first love^H^H^H^Hcar will always have a special place in your heart… :)

So with that, I say:

So long, and thanks for all the fish!