Saturday, December 3, 2011

White Lightning or: How I stopped being Politcal and Learned to Enjoy an American Automobile

There were no doubts or questions anymore - at nearly 180,000 tired miles and squeaks, groans, vomitous noises from who knows where, we decided to sell the "SilverBullet".  She was a very slick 1997 Infinity I30 with all of the leathery bells and whistles.  I purchased that treasured piece of mechanical decency and comfort while selling Lexus automobiles, at just below 92,000 miles, and my beloved and I enjoyed it for seven years. 
She was the second car I owned, and unlike the first car - Eurotrash Saab -it ran nearly perfect throughout its existence with me.  the previous owner banged it up pretty good, and repaired it to the best of his capabilities, but after years of PA weather, the SilverBullet became long in the tooth.
Japanese cars.  They manufacture the best cars and motorcycles on the market.  I know bikes.  I owned about 9 of them (currently riding a British Triumph) and they were all world-class racer types; all made in Japan.  I sold Japanese vehicles.  Bullet proof.  So my first thoughts for a new vehicle were just about anything Japanese, and there was no possibility for an American hunk of crap with their puddles of oil and their utter lack of sophistication.
Why the hate?
Politics perhaps.  Bad stories.  Unions. 
An auction friends and I went the distance on finding the appropriate vehicle for my family and on the list was Japan and Germany, but no American.
Ford maybe.  But there was simply no way that I was going to buy GM (Government Motors).
Why?
Bruce assured me time and time again, and perhaps because of his age and he kept forgetting things, that Chevy made a good car.
Maybe he did not understand - I wanted a great car for a "good" price.
Even my "I know a guy" buddy, Chad suggested a one. 
I thought there was dung between his ears, he has an even more conservative ideology than I do.  he knows cars though... hmmm
But the bailouts, the UAW, lumpy image of insignificance, obsolescence and arrogance of yesteryear...
But what about Bruce?  Chad?
Politics?
And then I thought about it.  I hate the bailout.  The unions and I will never get along in our ideology.  And the whole American car underdog thing, kind of weighed in on me. 
I have a big ol' Kolache Crusher - Chevy Tahoe that has been pretty good to us, minus the whole AC creature comforts and the ever deflating tire issue, but that danggone thing will run over a one of those moronic Smart Cars like a white-head pimple in a pair of dirty digits.  Probably survive the impending nuclear war that I am so paranoid about too.
And then there are the people who work for Chevy and Ford.  They are still working in spite of their unions.  They could have been and should have been dissed by the CEOs, but they were not. 
So at $6000 I bought a 2002 Chevy Impala.  Cloth.
Okay.
It's a good car.  Good.
"Hey I had one of those.  One of the best cars I ever owned - really fast!"
Thank you Curt.
Now I like it.  An endorsement through experience - I needed that.
Politics aside.  I bought "Made in America".  and to be frank, I probably should have thought that to begin with.

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