For some, it’s a teddy bear. Or a blanket. One of those battered, broken, faded yet utterly invaluable possessions which we cannot bear to part with.
Courtesy longzijun on Flickr
I have one such item within my ownership. The trouble is, its days are numbered. This isn’t a stuffed toy – it’s my car.
Why should I care so much? A humble Fiat Punto, it’s hardly a Bugatti Veyron on the speed front while just getting from 0 – 60 mph takes, well, a while. Several of the 60ish horses have no doubt bolted some time ago. The car’s more than ten years old and has long since passed the 100k mark on the milometer. There are scratches and dings on the outside. The boot catch doesn’t open properly. A little hole exists where someone audaciously decided to force entry and clear off with the stereo (an average one at that).
And yes, there have been repairs here and there: the exhaust, the brakes, several punctures and the lights have, on several occasions, forgotten how to work, leading to a couple of chats with officers from Police Scotland’s finest. Not to mention the annual wait for the result of an MOT (I can only imagine being given the good news ranks on a par with the jubilation experienced upon the safe arrival of one’s newborn baby).
To be honest, I haven’t even owned the car for the majority of its life – it had already reached ‘veteran’ status by the time we first clapped eyes on each other. In spite of that, though, in spite of all those pesky little ailments, it’s never seriously let me down.
I should mention that I make use of the car rather a lot. Travelling to rehearsals here, shifts there and giving lifts everywhere means that miles rack up at an astounding pace. But whether I’m gearing up for an early-morning stint on a news desk or trundling home from a night of music-making, the little motor happily springs into action without so much as a whimper. It may be more than ten years old, but the sprightly 1.2 litre engine more than matches up to its stronger, beefed-up counterparts both in town and on the open road.
The thing is, as the digits on the little clock, nestled at the bottom of the dashboard, continue to mount up, I know it can’t last forever. Sometime soon, through natural wear and tear, a costly fix will be required. And, as I take it to the garage and wait patiently, that horrible thought will be spinning around in my mind – would it just be kinder to say goodbye?
In reality, this is as much a financial consideration as anything else. It would make sense to invest in a shiny car in the first flush of youth; newer, kinder to the environment – and in the long term, my wallet. Also, where could I keep a second one? One can only dream of a garage to rival DJ Chris Evans or American talk show host Jay Leno, where I could spend many a happy hour restoring the plucky little Italian to pristine condition.
In the here and now though, still plenty of miles to whittle away cheerfully in this car – one of the best selling models of its time, by the way.
Even if it does need an arm stitched and has that patch over its eye…
Mark Andrew Good 