Tribute to the Green Machine

I felt I had to do another post. Not only have I been neglecting my blog account- not much activity, But I also had a big thing happen yesterday.

I bought a car.

Because I created "Ode to the Red Hot" from the last purchase of a car- see here- http://timkirkman.blogspot.com/search?q=Ode+to+the+Red+Hot
I felt I needed to do due justice and post about my Green Machine.

From the time I received this car, it has been a good use. The Green Machine was my father's car that he traded my Red Hot for his new car and gave me his old one. When it was given, it had some miles on it, around 175 thou, I think, but it was in better condition than my little Red Hot. It had AC, and Cruise Control, two amenities that I enjoy and don't really like living without.
But, by the end of the Green Machine journey, it does not have AC anymore and many other issues as well.

The Green Machine, currently has over 236,500 miles on the original engine and transmission, and is on its last leg. It has had Check Engine lights, and repair shop trips, and many other things happen to it. Its time to pull the plug, so I started saving up as much as I could to get a new car. My parents were great- helping each of us kids out with cars by matching up to $3000 as long as the money was not for a loan, but paying for a car in full. I saved up that much and just a few days ago started really seriously looking. I had enough for a 6-7 thousand dollar car. I had it in my mind that I wanted something newer than I had purchased before with less miles and with AC, and Cruise. Well, I pretty much found it in a Ford Focus. I found a 2008 Ford Focus, 2-door coupe with 24,000 miles on it. I found it for $6500. That's all. It was an amazing deal. It does not have Cruise, but I plan to put in an aftermarket cruise control sometime.

When I found that car on Craigslist, I called the dude and then called my dad to take a test drive with it- it was located in Portland. And then I proceeded to keep calling my dad and asking about it, if he had called yet, when he was going to go test it out and take a look, letting him know that it was a good deal so you better call early in the morning. ... He saw it and found that it was good, so he put money down on it for me and I took part of the day off yesterday to come down to get it. It is everything that I wanted it to be. It IS a good deal.
It will be a bit of learning to get used to a Manual Transmission again though. Portland stop and go traffic was not ideal for that learning, but hey, 16 year old kids do it all the time.