Her Name Was Lola

Some years ago, I was in a car accident that totaled out my car.  The amount the insurance company gave me was more than I thought my car was worth.  I turned it around and bought a two year old car.  It seemed to run great and was in excellent condition.  That was in February.  When I drove my son back to college at the end of September, I got stranded.  The timing chain went out and caused damage to the valves.  Normally, that would have been an easy fix.  However, the car I had was only sold in the U.S. for a very few years and they had recently declared bankruptcy.  The mechanic (all dealerships had closed) said he could get the parts but it would take a minimum of three months and possibly as long as eight months to get the parts shipped from Korea (Daewoo plant) to San Francisco.

I took Greyhound home to the Los Angeles area and then a taxi to a car rental agency.   After just two days with the rental, the battery failed and the rental agency told me to call my auto club and have them deal with it then bring the car in and swap it out for another, if I wanted to.  This was a major pain in the butt for me but something good came of it.

After a conversation with the tow driver who came to get the car going, he suggested I go see Emad who owned an auto shop and occasionally had cars for sale that clients would sell him when they upgraded to newer cars.  I went.  He didn't have anything in my very cheap price range but he took my number.  Two days later, Emad called and said he had a car for me.  I went to go look and did my research online.  I decided it was a good fix for my transportation problem.  So I bought the car, a 1986 Toyota Camry station wagon, until my car was ready to be picked up about four months later.  Then the car sat.  Five months later, my daughter, Tina,  got her license and the Camry became hers.  Tina named her Lola, after the Barry Manilow song, Copacabana.

Lola took my daughter everywhere.  She was old and she was not exactly what a 20 year old wanted to drive but she did the job and I didn't have money for another car for her, nor did she.  For my Tina's next birthday, I had Lola painted and all the dings taken out.  Lola was looking good so my daughter didn't mind driving her so much.  When Tina got mad at Lola and yelled at her or called her a "stupid car," Lola would act up and not start.  So Tina would have to apologize to Lola then she'd start up.  Lola took Tina everywhere.  She even brought her to northern California when she moved up here.  When was driving far, she would sweet talk Lola into getting her there with no problems.  Lola had well over 200,000 miles on her, but she kept plugging along.  Lola had her problems but she came through for Tina and never left her seriously stranded.  Tina drove Lola for four years.

Last November Tina bought a new car (which she named Sadie after the Beatles song, Sexy Sadie)  and Lola has been sitting in the back yard since then.  Two days ago, Tina was going to lend Lola to a friend but Lola wouldn't start so Tina got mad and listed her on craigslist.org, which she was supposed to do last November.  Within minutes, she got an email reply and the lady came over and bought Lola. 

That was the tough part.  Lola had become a member of the family and it was hard to see her go.  We knew she had to go but it was still a difficult thing to do.  Tina cleaned her out and then she sat with the new owner and went over all of the little tricks needed to drive Lola.  When Lola was finally driven away, I had to run inside so I wouldn't cry.  I know Tina felt like crying, too.  I miss Lola.  She has been gone a whole day and now when I look into the back yard, it looks like something is missing.  Lola will be missed.  I hope the next family she drives around enjoys her and treats her well.  After all, that's what Lola deserves.