The Dark Wob

I fragged the Fiesta today and admit to feeling a little sad to see it go to its death.

I was thinking about its proud first owner counting down the days to collect it from the showroom and proudly taking a backward glance whenever she/he parked it. Maybe they even gave it a name? I know we used to do that in my family, I even gave my Ioniq a name, Katy as her number plate had a KT area prefix.

I won't go as far as saying that taking a car on its final journey to the scrappy is anywhere near as bad as taking a pet to be put to sleep but it still makes me feel a little sad.

I doubt that any of us have ever owned a car from cradle to grave. I remember seeing my mum's Mk1 Fiesta that she collected from the showroom on the first of August 1983 proudly showing its new A reg 17 years later on its side in a council garage behind a block of flats. I remember bumping into someone who owned it in a chippy back in 1992. I got chatting to the owner and asked if he wanted to sell it. He refused but did offer me a straight swap for the Y plate XR3i I was in.

Yes. Unfortunately had to euthanize 3 last year, although one was already cremated.

Nearest of cradle-to-grave I can do is my Regal. My third car at 17 and still have it, although for much of that time work in progress

The thing is we're living in a country where perfectly good cars are getting scrapped due to our MOT regime refusing to pass perfectly good cars because of a few warning lights lit up.

Warren t claim wrote: ↑Thu Aug 04, 2022 2:36 am The thing is we're living in a country where perfectly good cars are getting scrapped due to our MOT regime refusing to pass perfectly good cars because of a few warning lights lit up.

No, that's skin-flint owners not dipping their hands in their pockets because of big bill. Similar to other appliances - I remember when tellies used to be fixed.

I don't think I've ever scrapped a car that wanted to live. All the ones I've bridged have been hateful bastards who constantly broke, so I was glad to see the back of them.

I remember being quite happy watching my Volvo 340 get crushed, but then they all deserved that from new.

I returned my actual first car (Beetle) to the vendor as it was so shit. So my second car, the Imp, really takes emotional place as "first car". I did everything you should do in a first car - drove it sideways down forest fire roads, shagged the bird two doors down in it, crashed it, bodged it, drove it again. Etc.

Seeing it forlornly on the weighbridge with the remains of Dad's tow rope hanging from the front whilst I came away from the cash window with my three quid was actually pretty sad. The bird I was shagging suddenly lost interest as I was temporarily car-less and I more or less decided then I had more time for shit old motors than I did skanky young wimmin.

I was sad to let our A4 go. After just over 10 years and 200k miles of ownership between my parents and myself, that is a lot of time spent inside a metal box become acquainted with it. While probably not crushed, it's likely stripped of all it's useful parts by now.

200k at 30mph which is what my average speed is tank to tank is 6666 hours behind the wheel. Or 277 days.

I think. Don't shoot me.

Did you use an abacus to work that out?

No just mental arithmetic.
Very mental.