Kick-off is a little after 8:00pm. I’m on my way to Dad’s to watch the OSU v USC game. (Our offense falls apart in the second half, handing them the win.)
The trip may take a few minutes longer than usual.
For about a week, I’ve been keeping an eye on my car’s odometer. I’m coming up on a milestone that I missed with the last car that I kept for over 100,000 miles – the 1974 Chevy Impala I wrote about in America Can Do This.
I’m on the interstate, BlackBerry at my side. Heading West on I-670 towards I-70, I see the odometer getting close to the mile. I’m hoping to make it to Dad’s neighborhood before I need to stop.
No such luck.
I’m approaching the “Y” where I-70 merges with I-670 and then a mile or so later, morphs into the I-70 and I-270 split. The odometer is at 111110.1. Damn. I have about a mile to find a safe place to pull over. Maybe it’s less than a mile to the second split. Who knows? I drive this highway to work five days a week, and until this moment, I’ve never cared. 111110.6. Once it hits 111111, I’ll have less than a mile to get the shot. I’m still not merging onto I-70. 111110.9, 111111, 111111.1, 111111.2, 111111.3.
Then, as if the odometer knew all along, the opportunity presents itself, less than one hundred yards past the “Y.”
Thank you, Jesus! I’m not going die trying to capture this. Can you imagine the page B-22 headline? “Man Drives Car Over Bridge While Taking Picture of Odometer.” Even dead, that’s embarrassing.
So why did I go through all this trouble? Simple. I really like the car I own. Enough so, that I still wouldn’t trade it on a new $30,000 sedan from an American car manufacturer – at least not yet.
I know that much has been done to improve the quality of American cars. They are certainly LOOKING more like 21st Century vehicles – unlike the last few years, when, as I’ve written before, the styling was way behind the times. But what will sell me is reliability – which can’t be determined for at least five years. That’s when I’ll know real improvements have been made.
Here’s my “111111 car.” (The pictures were taken the next morning.)
The styling of this ten-year-old car – inside and out – still exceeds many of the new American cars. However, there is at least one exception – the new Buick LaCrosse.
Quiet! I can hear your thoughts: “HAHAHAHA! He’s getting old. Old people drive Buicks!” True, I’m getting old-er, and true, many old-er people drive Buicks. But if this Buick is built as good as it looks, I might be swayed to try an American manufacturer’s car again.
It will not be an easy sell. I’ve owned Toyotas for over 20 years.
Here’s the 2010 Avalon.
You tell me?
Sincerely,
Rants and Observations by Michael Kontras 