Tuesday, October 06, 2009

SLEUTHY

Y'all - the STRANGEST thing just happened to me! I hope someone else is as weirded out by this as I am - it was just so strange.

So Kate and I were meeting Evan for lunch at a mexican restaurant in East Nashville. I've been there before so I was showing Kate the rear parking lot and entrance when we passed this:
Looks familiar right? Looks like the car I used to drive. Except just one thing -- THAT IS THE CAR I USED TO DRIVE. At least I am 90% sure of it. I suspected so as SOON as I saw it. I can prove it, too.

Exhibit A: See the rear bumper? It's not original to the car. It was put on there after I hydroplaned and damaged the bumper. I remember it getting slanty like that at some point when I had it but can't remember why. Or maybe that's how it was before it got replaced.... hmm.

Exhibit B:
Here's Evan standing in the driver's side window, looking in at the seat and armrest. There used to be a cover over the armrest that folded up and down, but someone put their weight on it when crawling from the front seat to back and broke it. Or maybe I did it the time I was crawling from the passenger seat to the driver's seat the time the driver's door wouldn't open from the outside and so I had to get in and crawl over anytime I wanted to go anywhere. Either way, the rubber arm rest that should be there is broken off. And I bet the new owner decided just to throw it away instead of let it ride around in the backseat for a year...

Exhibit C:
There is no license plate holder on the front of the car. That came off the time I was going to visit my grandmother and hit a deer. Well... touched a deer. He got up and ran away and my pretty AU tag took the fall.

The real clue was not there, though. My car got broken into when I was interning in Nashville in 2005. They gouged out the lock so the door was all jacked up from their screwdriver/crowbar inflictions. But when I walked up to the door to see if it was the same door, it wasn't. But it was also pained a different black, so maybe it was replaced.

So, I am PRETTY sure this is my old car. It spoke to me from across the parking lot. And it felt so funny to see it. I am guessing it belongs to an employee of the restaurant, and since it's one of my favorites, I will just have an excuse to go back and visit the restaurant! It's like how Ross used to go visit Marcel after he gave him away. It felt funny to see "my" car now as someone else's car. Especially since the last time I saw "my" car, it looked like this:
So all of this begs me to ask two questions:

1. Now that you know all the crappy, messed up parts of my car (oh did I mention it would randomly shut off and the check engine light had been on for more than a year and it was just generally unsafe?), why did I not get a new one sooner? This is like circling the fat. I'm embarrassed that I just pointed all of that out.

2. Can a car that was totaled be restored to the condition above? I am just so intrigued. I have to go back. I would have spent more time looking at/peeking in the car if it weren't raining. Stay tuned - this is far from over!

5 comments:

  1. That is too weird! When I bought my new car, I traded my old one in to Auburn Mazda. I see someone driving it around town all the time. I don't really feel the urge to reconnect like you do.

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  2. Do I see an old Rzone sticker? I know they were not easy to get off.

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  3. Don't you miss skanking the summit in the old explorer... I DO!!!

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  4. i saw my old red jeep riding around in auburn one day. i followed it. :) but auburn is a lot smaller than nashville. that is just too weird, lj!

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Oh goody!

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