After my third semester of college at a University, I decided to return home and finish up at a Community College. At this point, I needed another car since I was without one all that time away at school. It was a cold and snowy January and my dad and I drove to a Used Car Dealer in Elgin. My Grandpa had a connection and recommended this place. So we gave it a shot. I test drove 2 cars. One was a silver Nissan Stanza and the other was a Red Ford Tempo. I ended up with the Tempo.
After signing the paperwork and shaking the dealer’s hand. I drove away in it. My dad was behind me in his Dodge Pickup Truck. I think we got about 5 miles down the road and my car stalled and just decided to poop out. My dad pulled over, got out and helped me restart it. Seemed like a fluke. Nonetheless, it didn’t happen for awhile (maybe a few days). At the time, I was desperate and figured this would get me to and from school, as needed. Plus I was dating this girl, Kara, at the time. She and I rode in it a few times. I remember that it had no tape deck. So if I wanted to hear something on tape, i had a Walkman with little speakers hooked up to it and had to crank the volume.
I would try to play Pink Floyd songs and Syd Barret songs when she and I rode together in it. That was the kind of music that brought us together originally and this car actually tore us apart. I would stall at red lights and stop signs. She didn’t like that or my anger at those situations. We drove to Bakers Square and the movies in it but the smell of the car, the ripped vinyl seats, the crappy radio and the constant stalling, really started to get annoying. We eventually broke up because I drove a shitty car and had a “bad attitude” apparently.
This car literally TEMPO-rarily worked!!! I believe the radio finally died too and to exist in an automobile without music just wouldn’t cut it. I couldn’t keep changing the batteries on my walkman too. With it snowing in late February after an evening at a Denny’s with friends of mine, I started to drive away and my car died at a light. Then I got it started again. I was making a left turn at another light when it stalled in the middle of the intersection and a police officer helped me push it off the road. I wanted to push it off a cliff to be honest with you. I would not care at all.
Eventually my dad and I talked and we took it to another dealer and traded it in for another car. To be continued…….
The Music Bard 