Most of you know what I drive, even those I havent seen in awhile, I drive a 95 ford explorer, old blue as she has been called.

From the moment I bought her I disliked her, I never wanted a ford but I did want an SUV and she was in my price range,  I bought her with the thoughts I would trade her in after a couple years, once my credit was a lot better and I could afford something better.  The asking price was 16k, Star and I did some research and sure enough that was a comparable price so we went ahead and purchased her, a month later word got out that ford explorers had a problem with the tires exploding, gaining them the nick name ford exploder, she was now valued at 6k, I was upside down 10k in a month, my dreams of trading her in were gone, there was no way to get it down in 2 years, I was stuck with her.

Luckily I bought an extended warranty for $1500.00, which was used within that first year to replace the transimission, for what would be the first of 3 times, it also covered a rear end that needed to be replaced that year as well and a computer chip that also went out.

Over the course of 8 years she has given me random trouble, but never broke down on me, just always let me know that she needed to be looked at before it became serious and we had a love hate relationship, she did what she needed to do and I loved her for that, but I hated who she was in general.

This weekend she let me down, big time.  We went camping in Humberg campground, about 3 hours from Eugene.  The trip up went fine, but the next day we drove 30 miles to the gold coast for lunch, where after parking for some coffee she refused to start.  Luckily my father in law was with us, he a mechanic by trade and hobbie so I felt pretty good we could get her fixed.  We first replaced the fuel filter, which took about an hour, but went fairly smoothly.  That did not solve the problem, so we bought some starter fluid and sprayed that into the air intake to verify it was a fuel problem, sure enough it started for a second, confirming that it was a fuel problem, and the next step was replacing the fuel pump.  If you have ever done this it’s not an easy task, first we had to get the fuel pump and the closest one in stock was 30 miles away in Brookside, luckily Bob and Angie were joining us for camping and came to rescue us.  Once we got the part we towed old blue to a strangers house we offered up his tools, we had to drop the gas tank to replace the fuel pump, and during the install we broke the wire on the new fuel pump that lets you know how much gas is in the tank, 3 hours later we finaly had it all back together and she started right up, but now her steering had some serious issues, it would shake violently during turns and bumps.

Long story short, she made it back to Eugene, and I am driving her now with the threat of the steering breaking at any moment due to the tie rod being worn out, on top of that she needs new shocks and tires.

It’s time to say goodbye to her, I know that its cheaper to fix a car then buy a new one, but reliability is more important to me and she let me down this weekend.  Once I am able she will be gone, I expect it to happen in the next few months.

She hasn’t been all bad, she lasted 8 years even with me telling her how much she sucks, towing and moving me and my family around, she also was the start of my credit going from poor to excellent and for the past 3 years has given me very little trouble.  For that old Blue I thank you and wish you the best as a beer can or two.

Goodbye.