2004-05-21

In other news, Stripey has been given only weeks to live. My dear, dear van is going to God. After four good years of dedicated service, she is being turned out to pasture.

There has been quite a bit of overheating over the last month or so. One mechanic took the thermostat out of it, and said to give that a go. It was no help, so I took Stripey to a different place to get a second opinion. The word was handed down: the head gasket is gone. Not really sure what the head gasket truly does, but I do now that it costs over $1000 to fix. Stripey’s value does not warrant spending that kind of money on repairs, even though I love her dearly.

I bought Stripey for $2300 back in 2000. That makes it under $600 a year, $50 a month to drive the car. I had never had to spend money on her mechanically, I just kept it nice and serviced. The money I had spent on it was generally because of damage caused by others: the broken door and the smashed window. Oh and I had to buy a new rear light cover when I backed into a wheely bin. I never actually dinged it or ran into anything (other than the wheely bin). I never cared about nudging objects, since it was a car for using and not for getting stupid about the paintwork.

Stripey is all class and she has been stellar in her duties both to me and the Rock. Here is a list of her bigger trips:

twice to Brisvagus, once for a Bitchcraft tour and once for a holiday

once to Melberg, for a Bitchcraft tour

about five trips to Wellington to visit Mum, including a trip to Orange

heaps of trips between Sydney and Newcastle

my holiday touring country NSW for a week

And never did I have any car trouble on any of those trips, Stripey was so reliable.

I always call her ‘modular’. There were so many permutations of Stripey:

ready for work, taking all the seats out made her a working machine, ready to cart any crap you need moved

want to tow a trailer? No problem!

Want to move stuff AND people? Well, just put one of the three seats (three seater along the back, two seater and single on in the middle) in whatever combo you would like AND you will fit gear in as well.

Hey, let’s go camping! Put all the seats in, fold them down and go to sleep on Stripey’s own comfy bed!

Got to move 8 people? Sure can! Whack all those seats back in.

So, what happens now? I get a newer, bigger van! Stripey is an ’84 Toyota Liteace. Apparently, I can get a newer model, and a bigger version in the Hiace. Oh goody!! For some reason I imagine it to be red, though I don’t think I have EVER seen a red Hiace. I’ll be getting it from the auctions, where they sell stacks of cars for ridiculously cheap prices. Even better, I don’t have to do the searching for the van. The mechanic I took Stripey to (thanks Janice for the recommendation) is next to the auctions and they are going to find one for me! I don’t even care that they might charge me for this service - which I don’t imagine would be much since he already refused to charge me for looking at Stripey. Heck, as long as I don’t have to go all car-head and talk my way through the purchase and hassle, it’s a fucking ace deal!