Saying goodbye to my old vehicle

In May 2007 I wrote about my new-to-me vehicle. I purchased it in Georgia a few months after I'd moved from Maine. I'd wanted to get the lay of the land for a few months, see what my driving would be like, and go from there. I had written,

I've gone SUV. Between all the deer crashes around here and the fact that many other people have either vans or SUVs or is a farmer with a truck, I feel safer going with the flow and getting a larger vehicle. And it was a good deal. Very good.
Ford Explorer Limited, 1993, burgundy with roof rack to fog lights and even a CD player inside. Best of all, A/C that works!! Stylin'! 

The Ford Explorer was by the side of the road with a for sale sign on it. The car had 188,000 miles on it, if I remember, but Fords go a long way and I knew I would not be driving much. My traveling days were over. So I bought it. I did hit a deer, a frequent occurrence around here, but thankfully only the headlight was cracked in a minor way. Glad I was in a SUV.

Well 9 1/2 years later, my 23 year old Ford finally died. The engine block was cracked and when you hear that diagnosis on a 23 year old car, you hear taps playing in your head. Time to say goodbye.

Today I did. A friend's husband came and got it and will bring it to the junk yard scrap metal place, and I'll receive a few hundred dollars for it by weight, and that will be that!

Bye bye!

I've had a sub-compact, a compact, 3 station wagons, a hatchback, a plumber's van (I hated that one) a SUV and now a mini-van. My new to me vehicle is a 1998 Mercury Villager, but though the body of it is old the engine has many new parts. And on it goes!