Tuesday, June 29, 2010

To All the Cars We've Loved Before...

The 1994 Mercury Sable that brought the twins home from the hospital. (Yes, the same one in which I accidentally locked them at Food Lion while loading the Thanksgiving groceries...)

The 1993 Volvo 240 Wagon
. (Yep, the one that toted the twins and their double stroller daily to the hospital to be with---and cheer---Papa while Mamaw tried so hard to rebound. When we told her we got a "new" car, even though she couldn't speak, she facially acknowledged the new Lagemobile.) When you gave up at 198,000+ miles, we were crestfallen...so convinced you'd achieve the 300,000 legendary miles typical to your make and model. Only later when we passed you on to our friends at CarMax did we learn (via CarFax) that some years prior to our acquisition, your odometer had been turned back 109,000 miles. You lived the legend.

The 2002 Honda Odyssey. The first minivan. Pedro says you're the perfect vehicle in which to take 3-year old twins to South of the Border. You went out in a blaze of glory at merely 128,000+ miles ---taken out by a Hurricane Ida rain-soaked branch. Totalled you---and the DVD player that came with you---in one fell swoop.

The 2004 Hyundai Santa Fe. Shiny and sparkly, dubbed "The Golden Dragon." Accessorized with a bungie cord even today, I took out your driver side front quarter panel backing out of a tight parking garage spot following The Nutcracker. (Trying to dodge a cement pylon behind the car, naturally...) 91,000+ miles and going strong.

The 2003 Honda Odyssey. The Silver Star, the perfect park-mate to The Golden Dragon. 90,000+ miles now, counting on doubling that before we say goodbye.

When it comes to our cars, as a family, we value reliability and longevity over fashionability. Drive 'em 'til they can go no more...love 'em, live in 'em, laugh in 'em, make memories in 'em.

Apparently, our family is not alone. JiffyLube recently kicked off a Facebook page dedicated to owners like ourselves...those in it for the marathon of mileage.

If you, as a fellow family fond of ascending odometers wish, go check out JiffyLube's Facebook page, "Keeping My Ride Alive." Post your car's mileage there and/or leave a comment here. Tell your tale of your favorite trusty vehicle and why (there and/or here). You'll be entered to win one of 2 gift cards redeemable for a JiffyLube $35 signature oil change.

(As a JiffyLube customer, I love that if you need a fluid top-off or tire inflation within your 3,000 miles between changes, JiffyLube will do either--or both--gratis. Very convenient when you're taxi-ing twins from place to place...)
post signature

Twinfatuation received NO payment or compensation of any kind for this giveaway post. The gift cards were offered via a JiffyLube sponsored PR solicitation, and we as long-time, happy JiffyLube patrons (they have free coffee and air PBS Kids in their lobby waiting room at our local franchise!), were happy to pass the goodness along.
Good luck!

7 comments:

Unknown said...

now, that's some mileage!! we have been true to our vehicles, too. My first "new" car was a 2000 Malibu, bought with my first teaching paycheck! I still had it until we gave it to my sis and BIL last month when they were down to 1 car. I think it has like 175,000 miles on it! We have a 2004 Chevy Avalanche that we plan on holding on to as long as we can. And we have a relatively 'new' 2009 Toyota Sienna that we are loving and plan to hold on to till we can't any more!

Anonymous said...

I will keep a car until the doors fall off. I could not care less how old and in what shape it is as long as its reliable and take me from A to B. Hubby....is a different story. He tends to gravitate to buying something "new" every four to five years. As I'm typing this I see he has put a new screen saver on the computer with some Ferrari Sports car on it!

Terra said...

I am a lease the car, use it and give it back kind of gal....but I don't think I have ever seen a Jiffy Lube around here - I think grease monkey has the market cornered (ha ha) in Colorado.

Nancy said...

Holy cow! Those are some high numbers. I'm not sure what the mileage is on our two Kias (somewhere near the 15K mark, I think).

And I think we're in for the long haul for these two cars...now that we no longer need to keep expanding and making more room!

(LOVED our Santa Fe, but needed the minivan when Logan came along)

cat said...

Oh I love this post - our cars all get names and are true family members.

Safire said...

All of our cars get names too! Our 2 current ones are a 1991 Ford with almost 100,000 miles on it. Very old car but does what it needs too. And our "new" car is a Kia with something like 38,000 on it.

And we love Jiffy Lube too!

Dianna@KennedyAdventures said...

Oh, I LOVE this post! We had to give up our beloved Volvo Wagon when the boys came along, since it just won't hold a family of six!
Now, we're the proud owners of a Wildcat Blue Toyota Swagger Wagon.

We have friends who have Odysseys and love them, too