So as of today, my first car will be retired from active duty. We had some great times together followed by some horrible times. We had some exciting times and some times of absolute boredom. When I took the plates off, I think a tear or two fell from my eyes as I tried to fight them back on the side of the street.

She is - was - a polo green 1995 3.4 automatic with a T-Roof. She has taken me to hell, through hell, away from hell and back to hell repeatedly. Everything from road raging against ignorant drivers, racing dump trucks, adventures after consuming too much alcohol and marathon road trips.

After the first year,the transmission was overheating and not performing to what it should have been. It lasted another 3 years, only really slowing down in the past 6 months with plenty of Lucas dumped in. I wasn't racing or driving hard so it I didn't notice the lack of ***** unless I was trying to jump a couple spots at once on a two lane highway, even then ***** would randomly sprout at times and throw me forward.

Back in December/January she was hospitalized. The engine simply could not get past 20km/h, nor could it redline. Eventually it stopped starting altogether. It was later found that gas was getting into the oil. After speaking with numerous mechanics, they all said it was toast and the only was was either rebuilding the motor or buying a new one. I finally found a local mechanic who was willing to take the time to actually figure out the problem and fix. So a week later and a new cam, new valves, new spark plugs, new wires, new timing chain and I believe a new piston, the engine was as good as ever.

The straw that finally broke the Camaro's back came on the trip home to Sarnia after spending 14 days in Whitby in mid August. Early in the morning the car was overheating so I had to top up the coolant. Having done it a couple times before I was shocked when the cap was pretty much seized. After loosening it a couple of times, there was no release. Finally on the third or fourth time I got a little bit of a hiss which quickly dissapated. Giving another slight twist it turned into Ol' Faithful. Boiling hot anti-freeze everywhere. Turns out, hot things hurt. After letting it cool for half an hour in the Canadian Tire parking lot, I topped up the oil and started the three hour trek home.

Having spent the previous 14 days with little sleep, on a poor diet I was lacking some energy. I decided after a little while that I was ready to doze so I pulled over and took a half hour nap on the side of the road. I woke up re-energized and roarin' to go. Just as I got to Brampton, I felt my car wasn't quite right. It felt like it was shaking considerably and the oil pressure had dropped off. As I slowed, I noticed some steam or white smoke coming from what appeared to be under the hood. I pulled off of the highway into a nearby parking lot to examine my car. The oil checked out, I wasn't about to repeat the coolant experience, and the transmission fluid checked out. I didn't see anymore smoke or steam so I assume it was just some water being kicked up from underneath. I did a complete walk around to make sure everything was in working order before I restarted. No leaks, all my lights and signals were perfect. Turned the car back on, all the gauges showed normal.

Not even 15 minutes away from home, I felt a tug on the wheel. I had been driving in the left lane as I avoided a deer sometime earlier and never bothered to return to the right lane out of laziness. I'm not sure what caused the tug, but I started to correct anyways and that's when I felt the gravel. I immediately turned off my cruise control and eased off the steering wheel as I began sliding down into the left hand ditch. All four wheels were finally off the road and that's when I began steering a bit more back on to the road. I had my right wheels back on the road and my timing couldn't have been worse. I hit a reflector (the little yellow diamond shape on a stick) with my left hand headlight. It bent over the nose of the car and seemed to jump right at my face. It scared me. I thought it was coming through the windshield. I took my hands off the steering wheel to shield my face and that's when my other wheels hit the road. I did a 270 across the left lane, then the right lane and over the shoulder. I missed the guardrail by mere inches. The ditch on the right hand side was fairly steep and I'm pretty sure my back end cleared it before landing on a fence, less than a metre from a two trees and flanked by two.

I sat there listening to the rest of the song making sure I was ok, and could think. Not really sure what it was, because it was a radio station, but I think it was good. I emergered from my now hissing shell after having found my cell phone and took a couple of steps away. "Wow. This sucks" I thought to myself as I gazed upon my old friend. "Not bad, not bad at all."

Turns out the fence was atleast 10 meters away from the road. My initial inspection showed damage to the hood, headlights and front bumper cover. The back bumper cover appeared to be intact but I couldn't get to check on the passenger side of it. Yes I have pictures taken with my cellphone. A family had stopped and taken pictures with DSLR but still haven't e-mailed them to me .

About an hour later the tow truck showed up as it began to pour. Once the car was clear and back on the road, the damage to the rear was revealed. Surprisingly nothing major, just some scratches and cracks. However the muffler was torn loose and the tail pipe had to be ripped off. I drove the car home. I took it to a body shop to get a quote for some new pieces and paint. Found out the frame as bent slightly. That's when I made up my mind that it was finally time to retire her from active duty.

So this week was the week. I had two Jaguar XKR's waiting for me. Both in Detroit and pricing an average of $13500 USD prior to import. I was arranging inspections when I saw this Z-28 in Polo Green on Kijiji for $5800, safetied and e-tested. I called the guy, took a look at it. Clean as no tomorrow. I've never seen a car this old look this good. I drove it around for a while, perfect. I told him to call me the next day so I can have one more look at it. Just so happens today was a gorgeous day. I noticed some small imperfections but nothing major. I took possesion of it today just before noon.

I don't feel like a million bucks in it like I did while driving around my dream cars. But I also don't feel like $3 like I did driving around in my first Camaro. The rumble tickles me, but I miss the serene smoothness of the XKRs and that amazing whistle you get as supercharger winds up. The air whistling through the weatherstripping around the T-Roof just doesn't cut it.

I feel I now crave a supercharger.

(Pictures will follow shortly).

 

woa,,, all that reading and no picures,,,?

 

First picture. Taken as soon as I climbed back to the highway.

Second picture. Damage to the hood, headlights and signal/daytime running light.

Third picture. Sitting on the hood of the car, staring back at the highway.

Fourth picture. This is how far the backend is buried in the brush/fence. The passenger side rear is totally inaccessible.

Fifth picture. This is the rear bumper cover, passenger side after it was removed from the fence.

 

so what about the new one? the one u crashed was the 6 right.

 

That is correct. I'm waiting on pictures of the new one. I'm trying to combine the "hot girls on cars" photoshoot with the "yeah... this is MY car" photoshoot. I'll get some quick ones in a little bit for you though.

 

Here are some quick pictures.

 

first thing id do wid that new z28 is change the tailights