Everyone Starts Somewhere…
Remember when you bought your first car?
Look at you all mobile and independent. Its a good feeling isn't it? Everyone has a different first car experience and some are better than others. I thought to myself what better way to start this off then telling you about my 2000 Toyota Corolla. Keep reading i promise its not as dreary as that sounded, its got a pinstripe for god sakes its bound to be decent.
So I inherited that beauty you see above from my Dad. If you know me at all you would know that excited didn't begin to describe how I felt; finally a car of my own. It wasn't even week before she had a Hula Girl air freshener on the dash (mmm Pina Colada) and was unofficially christened Lola the Corolla. Don't judge me, that was funny as hell at the time.
At just over 235 000 kilometres, she drove like a dream. The steering was as soft as anything and the best way to describe the ride would be one of those baby bounce toys gone out of control. I may have put off getting new struts. by far my favourite part was this whistling noise it would make because of a hole in the intake hose, it sounded like one of those cheap fake blowoff valves.
One month in and she went on her first road trip, a modest 700 kilometres to the most southern point in Canada. My two buddies and I had a great time and Lola held up well, we laughed about the whistle the entire time and my friend gave a convincing impression of the scene in Fast and Furious where Suki yells "SMACK THAT ASS" as we passed a beat out caravan(thats about all we passed). Why the hell does she yell that anyway?
After about a month and a half of commuting to work I still loved the car. It wasn't fast, it didn't draw attention but it was mine, it rolled and it made me laugh. I was getting off the highway on a Friday afternoon and thats when it happened. I heard the most ungodly metal on metal sound coming from the engine, Lola had developed an engine knock. After much silent prayer and diagnoses, I found out that an engine bearing had gone and I was looking at a complete engine swap. She wasn't worth as much as it would be to fix so I was faced with the reality that Lola and I would be parting ways.
So as I sit here now writing this, Lola sits in my driveway, a hopeless Kijiji ad on the net for parts. It was a good month and half and now the search for something new begins! Even though it was only a Corolla, the experience was priceless and I mean for $400 and a new engine you can have her ;) .