First I would like to just note that I am using the new editor on WordPress for the first time so if my spacing or content looks weird, bear with me as I get used to it!
I am also doing something a little different for this post. I am going to be telling the story of why my car means so much to me and how it became a part of my life. I hope that y’all will enjoy this post as I am sure most of you have seen me write about my car on the different platforms of social media that I have and use.
With all of that being said… let’s get into the post!
In 2009 on my way to work I was involved in a terrible accident that many believe I should not have walked away from. To this day I can only thank my walking away to my grandparents who were looking over me in heaven. Anyways, at the time I had a 1997 Sunfire. It was my first car and I loved it. Unfortunately it was totaled in this accident which meant I had to find a new vehicle. This is not something I was looking forward to because I hate going to car lots and dealing with the annoying salesmen. My husband (fiance at the time) and I went to a couple places after they closed to see what our options were and to get an idea of what I wanted to get.
I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to buy. I was pretty upset that I even had to go through this process but I needed a car to get me back and forth to work and to get anything Autumn or myself needed. So there we were.. I can’t even remember how many places we looked or how many cars we looked at and I said “No, this isn’t it.” We went to one more place, we got out of the car, and started walking around. Then I saw her. My car. The one I knew I needed but didn’t know WHY I needed her.
I looked at my husband, pointed to the car, and said “That’s the car. That’s the one I’m buying.” I don’t remember the rest of the conversation because in my head I knew that was the car I was buying. One way or another. We ended up looking at a few other cars of the same model and I kept coming back to the first one and was completely settled on it. I knew. I just knew.
I went and test drove her. A solid two hour test drive. I made sure to drive at highway speeds to check for any vibrations or noises. I drove over bumpy roads and just enjoyed the drive for a solid two hours. I took it to my husband’s work (he was working at a dealership at the time) for him to look it over now that I had the keys and could actually check it out. He asked me how it went on the test drive and I told him. I had found a couple problems and he told me to take it back, let them know what I found, and see if they’d come off their price. When I went back and told the guy all of the problems that I had encountered he was pretty shocked. I am a female after all and some men (people really) feel like we can’t like cars and don’t know what we’re talking about when it comes to cars.
He ended up dropping a little over a grand off the purchase price of the car and we got everything started. I drove her off the lot and took her home. Over the course of the next four years we changed some things on the car. Added a couple decals, some pinstripes, stars, a single wide stripe from front bumper to back, painted the back valence and around the license plate, an exhaust, a cobra front end and lowered the fuck out of her.
I had been in some minor accidents with her but nothing a little work couldn’t fix. I took out two deers within a six month period and then hubs popped a curb after putting a sway bar on it. So that came back off. Lol. The second deer I hit required some body work so she was at the body shop for a nice little bit. The deer had hit my driver side fender, bounced back and hit my door, and then hit the back quarter panel. So the whole driver side was pretty rough. She was good as new, though, when we got her back from the body shop.
However, I wouldn’t be so lucky the next time I wrecked her…
On March 24, 2013 Autumn and I were on our way home from a Motor Trend car show that had been downtown Richmond. It had started hailing on our way home so I stopped into the grocery store to grab a few things. When we came out the hail had turned to snow and it was just starting to stick to the cars. I thought I’d be okay to make it home (roughly 14 miles).
We started driving home and not too far into our drive the snow had started sticking to the road but I thought if I just babied her home we’d be okay. I was good until I came to the first incline and that’s when I lost control. I tried steering the way I wanted her to go but she wasn’t having it. I started sliding off the right side of the road, did a complete 180, and nailed a tree (back of the car).
Part of me knew she was totaled. The other part of me didn’t want to believe it. This car was my baby. I called my husband and hysterically told him we’d been in an accident and he said he’s get his dad to come get us but he’d try to come help. He didn’t make it too far before having to turn around and go back home. Someone stopped to make sure we were good and called his buddy to come pull us out. After a lot of sliding and pulling we got the car out. By this time my in laws had gotten there along with my brother. We get the groceries out of the back of the car and head home.
The next day my husband and I head out to see if we can drive her back to our house or if we need to call a tow truck. Anyone that knows my husband knows he’s not calling a tow truck. So he drove my car home and I followed him. We got her home and he took a look at the damage and pretty much said what I was expecting. “She’s totaled.”
I was at work when a tow truck came to get her and I’m so glad I was because I don’t think I would’ve been able to handle that. Because of the snow storm it took longer than normal for the insurance company to assess the damage. So about a week or so later I checked the claim to see if anything had been updated and sure enough.. she was totaled. I already knew this going into this whole situation but I started bawling as if I had hopes she wouldn’t be.
Now it was time to, yet again, find a new car. I won’t go into much detail about this one because it ended up being a POS and I blew the engine in it not once but TWICE. But anyway, I got a Jeep Grand Cherokee and liked it until it became a money pit. My husband tried warning me but I didn’t listen.
Randomly, a few months later, my husband comes in from the garage with a gift for me. It was a 1:18 scale model of my car that he had hand painted to look just like mine. What might seem insignificant to some meant so much to me. Seriously, what’d I do to deserve this man?
Let’s fast forward to Christmas 2014. My in-laws come over as usual for breakfast on Christmas morning. My brother and his girlfriend end up showing up. Which, I thought was weird.. but whatever. After breakfast my husband said he wanted to give me my gift first but we all had to go out back. So we all go out back and we’re all standing on the back porch, my BIL filming my reaction… to what, I had no idea.
My husband is standing in front of the garage and I hear a car start. It was really loud and I was like “what the fuck?” He walks around behind the garage and drives out in a white Mustang. *and here I am bawling again as I type this* He had bought this car off someone and as my Christmas gift was gonna get it road legal for me. It had been wrecked so it had a lot of work that needed to be done but I had a Mustang again. The emotion in the video my BIL got is so raw and real. You can see what this meant to me just by watching that video.
We ended up getting a quote for the body work that would need to be done and it was much more than we had anticipated so those plans got pushed on the back burner. But I had my car and it would be legal, one day! I’d get to drive a Mustang again.
Fast forward to Christmas 2015. We do Christmas as usual. We are headed out to my parents around lunch time and hubs starts going the wrong way. I’m like “Dude, where are we going..?” He plays it off and just says “We’re going to your parents..” Clearly I knew we weren’t because we were not going in the correct direction. But whatever..
We pull up to one of his buddies houses and he’s like “Come on, I wanna show you something.” So I get out and follow him up to the door. We were told his buddy was out back in the garage so we head out that way. We chit chat with his buddy for a few minutes then we all head back outside. We’re walking out of the garage and hubs is randomly like “Oh, Merry Christmas. She’s yours.” as he points to a car in his back yard. It was a black Mustang.
He knew that we wouldn’t be able to get the white one fixed so he got the shell of the black one to transfer everything over into so that I’d still get my Mustang. His buddy trailered it out to our house after the holidays and he got started switching everything from the white car to the black car. He worked on it some nights after work but mostly on the weekends. It didn’t take him nearly as long as we’d imagined it would. We had a few things to do before we could get it inspected and make it road legal.
I remember the first time we started her up after transferring the engine & tranny. The sound of music, man. Then the first time I drove it up the road. Ugh. That feeling. I can’t describe it.
So, I’m in Ohio for my birthday that year and we got home.. I think August 9.. I get home and she’s road legal. I finally get to drive my car. Happy birthday to me.
Needless to say the story of my Mustang is a very emotional one for me. Never in my life would I ever have imagined being the driver of a Ford since I grew up with Chevy drivers in my family and Ford just wasn’t something we talked about. Lol.
I still can’t explain how I knew the first one was meant to be mine. Or how driving my new one relaxes me so quickly. I have no answer for that. Maybe one day I will, but for now I don’t ask questions. I just enjoy the time that I have with the car. The black mustang means so much more to me than my first does, for obvious reasons. It was built FOR me. We didn’t buy it off the lot. My husband built it in our backyard. Did he have to do this? Absolutely not. But that’s just one of the ways he’s shown me over the last 13.5 years that he truly loves me.
I don’t get to drive her nearly as much as I once did because we’ve got three kids now and well, we just don’t fit. She’s currently in the garage awaiting some new pieces and a paint job. I am so stoked to finally get her painted and looking like I want her to. Obviously I still won’t be able to drive her as much as I’d like but at the end of the day, she’s mine and as long as someone is here to keep the kids I can jump in her and d r i v e.
If you’ve made it this far I really appreciate it. I know this isn’t something I would normally post on here but it’s something that means a lot to me. Thanks for always reading my content and keeping my hobby alive.
Until next time…
xoxo
lena ralene 