The Honda

This car has a great story behind it. I bought it for $ 800 about two years ago from someone who had bought it from someone else. It was in tip-top shape for an $800 22 year-old ride: good brakes, passed smog, sounded great, new shocks and tires, new alternator.

After about five months of driving it, my mom gave me her old truck when she bought a new car and I was forced to sell the Honda (the truck was later traded for my RV). I ended up selling the Honda to my friend Jon Rolston for $ 648 and a chocolate doughnut from Calafoods.

He really managed to beat the thing up. Thought he lost the key, so he ripped apart the dash trying to hotwire it. In the process, he destroyed the inside wiring; killing the stereo, the dome lights, the lighter, and the dash lights. He broke the passenger window out and replaced it with a piece of thick transparent plastic held on by duck tape. He painted names like “Miss Bunnycat” on all the doors, patched the roof with some thick snot-like epoxy, and hid some food under the driver seat so it would rot right into the carpet.

Out of complete desperation for a running car, I bought it back from Jon. My price – $ 180 and an overhead projector I found at the dump. I used the car for a while before I left on the first leg of the dinner tour, then I garaged it for many months. I pulled it out of hibernation the other day to run some errands around town. While out and about, someone had flanked my car and cut my rear license plate in half to steal my registration sticker. Kick ‘em while they’re down I guess; pick the junkiest car and give it and the owner more trouble than they already have.

At this point this car is much more trouble than it’s worth. I need to get it smogged before the DMV will grant me “official” permission to take little “Miss Bunnycat” on the road, it now needs new license plates that’ll cost about $ 50, my insurance cancelled cause I forgot to pay it, the CV boot is really toasted so the car makes a horrible clicking noise every time you make a right turn, it has fix-it ticket for the passenger-side brake light, and I have no where to put it since I have no home anymore. Despite all this, it still runs – 184,000 miles and still ticking (clicking). I posted it on Craigslist.org with very little luck – someone offered me $ 40 and a pair of movie tickets.

By pure chance, I ran into some folks from the neighborhood at my garage sale and they told me their Hungarian friend was looking for a cheap car. Boy was he in luck!

Sold – $ 200. The saga continues.