|
|
In
March 2002, I got a call from my father. The 240GL he bought new in 1987
and had maintained very meticulously was starting to develop an
attitude. It did not always start when it should, coughed during
acceleration etc. "Easy stuff", I told him. "Have it
tuned up and it will last you for 15 more years, easily." Well, he
reckoned that at 74, he did not want to be bothered with a troublesome
old car. Why shouldn't he treat himself with a brand new car? He was
right of course, so he got a new Peugeot, and the Volvo was up for
grabs.
Now, there's a thing you should know about this particular 240: It is as
clean as a family car in normal use can possibly be. It has lived most
of its life in the garage. Taken out, waxed, and backed in again. 76 K
miles on the clock when I got it. As my dad lost both hands in an
accident at work when he was a couple of years younger than my present
age (he used to be an electrical engineer, and one day 60,000 Volts got
astray), this car has auto tranny, power steering and power windows --
standard equipment for US cars, but over here that's pretty out of the
ordinary for cars this old.
As cars in my country are regarded by the government as a heavily
punishable luxury, car taxation is taken to the utmost extreme. So
having done the offence of getting a car, you'd better make it last as
long as possible. In the seventies/eighties/early nineties there were
few better starting points than a Volvo 240. Still isn't, come to think
of it.
With this background you may understand my decision that this car should
not be sold out of the family, so I grabbed it when given the chance. I
did not have any clear ideas of what to do with it, as we do not really
need two cars. My line of reasoning was that in a couple of years time
our oldest son will be old enough to drive, and also that I would find
it nice to be able to drive to work every now and then in the monsoon
season instead of always having to bike. As we live a 6 min. bike ride
from my office, and my wife got 9 km to hers - she's got our car.
Her response? "Do we really need to fill up the garage with two
cars?" "We don't even drive 10,000 km a year with the one we
got (6 K miles), it's nothing to split on two cars!" And so she had
landed on "the obvious" conclusion: "We sell our
(recently purchased new) Passat, of course!" So this was how long I
had my very first very own car, at the age of 47: From I got it from my
father when at work, until I told the wife during dinner. Well. She did
have a point, and the Passat was consequently sold. I was in fact happy
to see it go, after the first week of owning it I knew that modern cars
simply don't do it for me.
Since then I have developed from a standard, middle-aged husband and
father with an OK job, newish car and a few other outward symbols of
having got past the struggling phase where the expenses exceed the
income - to a guy stopping by the local junkyard once a month, slyly
making the Sunday family outings past places where I heard there might
be a set of used Virgo wheels to be found. I log into the Brickboard
Bulletin Board a couple of times each day, I am hoarding new and
used parts in the garage, I am in the process of rebuilding the
suspension - to my immense satisfaction for simply being able to.
Perhaps my neighbours are thinking I have fallen on bad times; I could
not care less. At work, my colleagues are busy counting their money to
see if they can afford to replace their Audi A4's with A6's; a sport I
am totally out of. I am just having a great time with my old Brick --
even if I only get to drive it in the weekends. A large bit of
sentimentality is admittedly also a part of this, as I am the keeper of
the car my parents had for 15 years: My younger sisters were taken to
their confirmation ceremonies and later to their weddings in this car.
My parents have had great holiday trips, both home and abroad, in this
car. In late 2001 I drove my father to my mother's funeral in this car.
I hope you catch a glimpse of my reasons for wanting to keep this car in
great shape forever.
|
