Me and the Jeep

God, how I love my Saturn. The buying process was painless, it has never given me a lick of trouble and it has everything I ever wanted in a car. Edmund Second (that's the Saturn) has far and away the best car I have ever owned. Better than the babe, a '78 Dodge Aspen that saved my life numerous times by stalling out just as I was about to do something teenaged. Even more than Edmund First, a '74 Pontiac Grand Am with a massive engine and all of the styling charm of a Quonset hut. Yes, I can say without equivocation that E2 is far and away my favorite ride ever.

So why is this little tale called "Me and my Jeep"? Why not "Paean to Edmund Second" or "Why I Love My Saturn"? Simple really, after far too short a time, E2 and I are going our separate ways. I am selling my Saturn in order to pay off some bills and finance the restoration of my as yet unnamed 1989 Jeep Cherokee. Why would I do this? Why would I discard my faithful E2? Why on earth would I want to join the ranks of the overfed, suburban, SUV drivers? The very people whom I loathe more than any other.

Again, the answer is simple, and complex, all at the same time. You see I have been without employment for a while now. I ate up the savings pretty quickly and then went to the credit card to finance my lifestyle. So now, even though I am working more or less steadily again, I have a pretty good size credit card debt. Now I could pay as much as I could and live frugally until it is paid off, or I could sell my car. Anyone that knows me realizes that to me it's a quick fix or no fix at all. So there is no surprise as to which option I chose.

The reason for the Jeep is simple, cargo space. The household already had a four door sedan when I arrived in the form of girlfriend's 2000 VW Passat. If any sedan was going to leave the nest in favor of a Jeep it was going to be E2. I kind of knew that going in, but tried not to think about it. We had already talked about getting something to haul stuff in, but it was supposed to be in addition to the current vehicles, not in the place of one of them.

So lack of funds and previous plans and several other factors all converged into "For Sale" signs in the window of E2 and ads on autotrader.com. I'm OK with this, I really am. The extra money that E2 will bring will be most welcome and I do like the new Jeep. It's just that I feel like E2 is being punished for something he didn't do. He was never anything but reliable. Last week when I found that the new shocks on the Jeep caused it to try and shake itself apart at highway speeds, E2 was there to take me to work every day. Yet here I am, trying to get rid of him to the first person will give me $9995. It just doesn't seem fair.

My girlfriend of course doesn't understand any of this. She sees this as a perfectly logical response to our current situation. It is, but logic and cars don't really mix with men. She couldn't figure out why I didn't see the need to have the Jeep checked out by a qualified mechanic. Simply put, I would know if there was anything wrong with the car the minute I looked at it. Mechanically, morally. Emotionally, if there were any problems I would sense them. Why pay a guy to give me printout confirming what I already knew?

I have to admit that the moment I laid eyes on the new Jeep I was sold. It is has some dings and some paint fade, but it is a runner, you can tell just by looking at him. Of course she didn't believe me, so I had to take it to a mechanic and get my printout. At which time he told me in so many words, "You got yourself a runner." Sure there are definite repairs required, and if the first few I have had done are any indication it is going to wind up costing me about twice what I had planned initially. But he is a tough little guy and I am starting to gain confidence in him. I think we will pretty happy together.

I must confess that I have always wanted a Jeep. I never told the girlfriend that because if I did, then selling the Saturn wouldn't be as much of a sacrifice and not worth nearly as many relationship points. But I have always loved Cherokees, they are just the right size and they just look cool. No false tough guy flares or bolts or any of that crap. Just a solid, dependable design and look. You can tell just by looking at a Cherokee that it's a worker. That's probably why they haven't felt the need to change the look in 15 years. Why bother? It's already exactly what it ought to be.

So I think this will work out. Next up are some tires and some leak fixes. Then we will start thinking about a paint job and some more cosmetic stuff. I figure about six months and a thousand dollars from now he will be just about right. Maybe by then he'll have a name.