I hope you enjoy your free car, Kidney Foundation. P.S. It's broken.

Leonard (Lenny) the Lumina has been sitting in our apartment complex for one solid year. His transmission gave out, and a car without a working transmission is incredibly hard to drive. I have found this out through intense research and experimentation.


One day, Elissa came home to find that our Apartment complex had placed an annoyingly sticky and gaudy yellow sign on his windshield. Really astute guys, my car has been in the same parking space for over a year.

"WARNING. Expired tags and expired registration. This vehicle will be towed at owner expense by Tuesday, Aug. 3rd."

I went to Chesterfield Auto Parts and talked to a nice lady at the Kidney Foundation who gladly told me that they would take Lenny for free.


The tow guy came the next day, and I bid adieu to my 'college car.' There was definitely some nostalgia thinking back about all the good times I had driving around my grandpa car. He may not have been flashy, or cool in any stretch of the imagination--but he did his job for over 5 years.


I hope that his parts are used in a lot of Lumina's around town, cause there are some REALLY junky ones out there. I also hope that none of his parts will be used to fix up a drug dealers ride.

Is that too much to ask?

"Mr. Orange"

Lenny’s engine and destroyed transmission barely had time to cool before we had to figure out how to replace him. I wish we could get by with just one vehicle, but that is not realistic. We live 20 minutes outside of the city and it is out of the question to carpool since we drive in completely opposite directions.

Sigh.

After a blitz of online and in-person research, we decided to buy a Scion xD. The only problem? There was a 1-2 month wait for the vehicle to arrive from Japan after we ordered it. Luckily, we found a dealership (1 out of 4 in the area) that actually had 3 xD’s in their showroom. A flurry of test-drives, contemplation and debate ensued. The major hang-up? The model they had in stock was Orange. Well, to be more accurate, “Hot Lava.”
The marketer in me went tug-a-war with the more practical sense of style. “Am I Orange?”

The car had everything we wanted. Manual transmission, awesome MPG (up to 40), hatchback, trusted brand, fantastic resale, cool design. Our moment of decision arrived.

Blink.
We signed on the dotted line and “Mr. Orange” joined the Reese motorcade. A month later, and we have absolutely no post-purchase dissonance. Now, the only thing we are nervous about is sticking out in a sea of speeding highway vehicles. 5 weeks down, and no tickets to speak of.

Knock on faux wood. (I’m in a cubicle).