He turns 12 years old today. And I still cherish the day I got him.
And who is he? My truck!
He’s got nearly 68,000 miles on him which just breaks my heart. I know that is low for his age, but it means he’ll start to break down more and more.
In fact, just this week I took him in to get my ‘check engine light’ turned off. It decided to go on for no apparent reason and annoy the crap out of me for weeks.
After a two hour diagnosis, a Mazda representative told me why. You ready for this? “You don’t drive it enough.”
Huh?
“Since we don’t know what you have done, and you’ve never had a tune-up, and we don’t know what your father did to it, that’s why it went back on.”
Uh-huh.
And I paid $97 for that brilliant explanation? Sweet.
So in turn for those who actually take care of their cars, it still bites us in the ass.
I was instructed to take Brad on a few driving cycles (consisting of ten miles each) before I take him in for a smog check. Just to see if it would come back on.
Well, I’m proud to tell you — it did three days later while I was backing into a space. Ugh.
I originally acquired Brad on my father’s birthday in 1996. At the time I was driving my father’s full-size white and blue Bronco (which I still sorely miss to this day) for my daily commutes to the University of Nevada. I actually started driving it though in high school a few months before OJ’s infamous car ride. (Oh the weird stares I would get!)
About a year later it broke down in the middle of a Reno intersection. I remember that day very clearly. I called my parents and while waiting for my father to come get me, a man and his wife graciously stopped to help me. This huge black man said he would push it through the intersection where I would then start downhill and it was up to me to stop it.
Now I know nothing about nothing but you don’t f**k with a man who can push a full size Bronco from a dead stop. I’m just sayin’. I remember seeing him in my rear-view mirror and thinking it was someone else and then realized I was on my own and heading downhill at a rapid rate!
The empty field where I ended up now sits a gas station and mini-storage. But at the time, there was nothing except lots of dirt piles and small hills I kept bounding into.
I finally had no choice but to pull my emergency brake while I was still speeding. It was dead silent when I stopped except for the blink-blink-blink of my turn signal still left on.
He and his wife caught up to me and asked me if they could drive me to my class. I said ok. (I didn’t get any weird vibes with them, so I thought it was really ok.)
While inside their car, they told me, and this is no joke, “This is my wife…. and I’m…. We’re priests from Los Angeles.” Oh my God.
Anyway…..after that episode my parents wanted me to have a reliable vehicle so we started looking around for a new car. With a budget in mind, I carefully searched out my options. We went to Chevrolet, Isuzu, Ford, Hyundai, Toyota and Mitsubishi.
And then my final choice – Mazda. I’ve always wanted a truck since I was like five years old. Growing up, my uncle had a blue Toyota long bed that I just adored. To this day I still want a red Toyota truck (I’d kill for the one below.)
Anyway, two identical red B2300 trucks were in the backlot the day we went. One had a stick shift, the other automatic. I drove the auto one around the block with my mother and decided right there I wanted it. He had nine miles on him at the time.
He’s since been to Las Vegas, the Bay Area and Sacramento. Not far away exotic places, but I take good care of him. Hence why my ‘check engine light’ is apparently on.
So why Brad? I wanted to name him after someone I didn’t know. What happens if I fell in love with a Michael and named my truck after him and then we break up? Then my truck would be a visual reminder of my failed relationship. No thanks.
I especially love driving him in the summer when I can open the windows behind me and let Metallica or Rob Zombie flow out from my cab. I think it’s the boy in me. Or seeing snow fill up my bed in the winter. I love it! And you know what? Wouldn’t trade him for the world. Well, except for a new engine light!
Filed under: All About Me!, Auto Gallery | Tagged: birthday, brad, mazda, Toyota
