High Maintainence

I've been saying for about a year now that I expect my car to eventually explode or fail in some other grand dramatic way that will put a defninitive end to the machine.  In a way I wish that had happened.  

What's actually been happening is the slow death of the machine, in a way that seems designed to mock me.  The transmission has been flakey for years, but the car was still drivable.  The roof was unreliable, but the car was still drivable.  The roof became stuck semi-closed with a little open slit in the back, unable to be fully closed and no longer a convertable, but the car was still drivable.  Around a month ago the radiator sprung a tiny leak.  It was a hassle monitoring the heat and refilling the radiator but the car was still drivable.  A few weeks ago the driver side seatbelt became permentantly stuck, but the car was still drivable.  This morning I discovered that the front driver side tire has blown out.  I have a spare, I could make the car drivable, but enough is enough.

The repair costs on the roof alone are more then the blue book value of the car.  Then add in the transmission, the brakes, the radiator, the seatbelt, and now the tires.  It would cost at least a thousand dollar to get the car to the point where it would pass inspection.

As much as it's going to complicate my life it's time for me to accept one thing.  I no longer have a car.