Talossan Car Of The Year

[Barclamïu da Miéletz]

Just some thing I thought of while we were out test driving some cars. With New Talossan Car Of The Year and Used Talossan Car Of The Year.

[Iason Taiwos]

I'd like to nominate my car as "Used Talossan Car of the Year".
I drive a 2007 Ford Mustang. It previously belonged to my stepdaughter, who passed away from cancer. Look, I'm not a car guy, never have been. I want something to get me from point a to point b reliably, and that's it. I don't care what it looks like as long as it runs and won't cost a lot of money for repairs. Preferably something I can repair myself. (Okay, there was one car I owned I actually loved...a 1979 Jeep CJ5. Had an inline six engine. Learned to drive stick on it, and I could fix it myself. I'm not naturally mechanically inclined, but I replaced the carburetor, U-joints and a bunch of other stuff all by myself, using just a Haynes manual as a guide. I was proud of myself for that. Plus, it was fun to drive.)
Anyhow, this Mustang. I don't get the appeal. I can't tell you how many times people have complimented me on it. "Wow, nice Mustang, man!" How are you supposed to reply to that? "Thanks, but I just drive it. I had no part of its design or production." I usually just say "Thanks" and leave it at that.
I'm 52 now, and some people probably think my owning this sports car is some kind of mid-life crisis thing, when it was just a vehicle I got because my stepdaughter died, and no one else wanted it. It runs okay, that's all I'm concerned about.
The speedometer hasn't worked since I've had it (maybe five years now), so I've been driving it around the whole time without actually knowing how fast I'm going. I guess it's a testament to my driving skills that I haven't been pulled over by the cops. (I've only ever had one speeding ticket in my life.) My wife once pulled up an app that tells you how fast you are driving, and kept her eye on it when we drove out of town. "I'll let you know when you're speeding," she said. She never mentioned it again until we got back home, and said "That actually impressed me. You pretty much drove the exact speed limit the whole time."
The Mustang has body rust, the muffler is falling off. Sometimes in the morning the button on the gear shifter doesn't want to work. The gas gauge also occasionally quits working. But it gets me to work and back, eventually. It's mostly reliable. My brakes are still good, they saved me from plowing into a couple of deer crossing the road the other day.
(Since we're talking about cars, one of my coworkers recently got a 1962 Rambler. You know all those stories about the old lady keeping her dead husband's antique car in the garage for decades, and it's in pristine condition? This was one of those stories. My coworker grew up next to the old lady, and would mow her lawn for her. She finally died, and the family wanted to clean out her stuff. They offered the car to my work pal, since he had mowed her lawn for years without accepting any pay. They wanted $3000 for it, and threw in an old Cadillac as well. Well, luckily he had the money, and snapped it up. The Caddilac wasn't in that great a shape, but the Rambler looked like it had just rolled out of the factory. Pristine. My pal had to use dry gas to start it, but it drove fine. He went and got historic plates for it. All this happened right in time for the "Super Cruise", which is an annual car show they have here in my town.