Farewell to an old friend

Back in July of 1995 I found a car on a Honda lot in Conroe with only 15 miles on the odometer. I wanted a 5-speed with a good engine and wider tires. The Civic EX had a 1.6 liter V-TEC engine, wide tires and a sunroof. At the time the sunroof was a nice little gadget but nothing that I really cared about.

Now, almost 16 years later my little Honda has over 277,000 miles on it. The sunroof motor went out a few years ago - but, after a bizarre incident on the Gulf Freeway, I picked up a used unit from a junkyard and was able to enjoy driving with the roof open once again.

For the last year or so I've had problems with the engine getting too hot. My mechanic couldn't figure it out so I tinkered with it and kept adding water along the way. About a month ago the head gasket split and I had to park the car. Unfortunately an undrivable 16-year-old car doesn't have a lot of trade-in value. So I decided to donate the car to the local public television channel (KUHT).

Today I watched as my old car was towed away. Yes, it's just a bunch of metal, plastic and rubber. But, damn, was the bucket of parts fun over the years.

So long, old friend.