We bought Amanda a Tiburon, (very tiny car) when she turned 16. She upgraded 6 months ago when she parked what was left of her Tiburon in our yard and walked away. I decided I would drive it for a few months, just until we sell the house and move. There were some immediate problems, about $800.00 worth to get it on the road. That was about $500.00 more than I wanted to spend, but it took 3 trips to the shop to get it driving.
The mechanical problems aside, Amanda also hit a few deer, etc. in this little tiny car. The hood had damage, a rim was cracked causing a slow tire leak, the sun roof opens, but does not close. She basically drove it until the tires were ready to fall off and then parked it in our yard and left it.
Loading the kids into the car and driving around is very claustrophobic. The first day I was supposed to take Audrey to school the car did not start. I popped the hood, and inspected the battery. It was caked up with that toothpaste colored gunk. I did what any car savvy woman would do. I got a screwdriver and wrench and banged on the posts until the car started. This went on about every morning until Easter.
We went to Tyler, to my in-laws, for Easter. We had a great time until it was time to leave. I ran to the tiny car in the rain, secured the kids and bam, the car won't start. I get out bang on it and no luck. My brother-in-law observed my abuse of my battery and told me I really should not beat on the posts. I told him it was not working anyway, so in true white trash form I have to get a jump start to leave a family function.
We get less than a mile from the house and Audrey informs me she needs to potty. I told her I could not stop. I told her if I stopped we would have to sleep in the car because it would not start again. Whizzing along at 70 MPH on 2661 by the villages, in a thunderstorm, I had a hood latch malfunction. The hood on my car popped open, hit the top of the car and one hinge broke completely off . I locked up my brakes, the car behind me definitely needed a change of clothes, they thought the hood was going to hit them. I was able to see through a little part of the windshield. I pulled into a driveway for a oil field location.
I grabbed my cell phone to call for help only to discover I am in a dead zone. Very few options at that moment. No one would miss us for 4 to 6 hours. I turned the car off and decided we would have to walk in the rain, thunder and lightning, to the top of the hill and call for help.
Audrey burst into tears. I tried to calm her down only to discover she is upset because she thinks we are sleeping in this oil field drive way. I explain to her we are going to get help and she would get to sleep at home. She calms down and we start to walk. Landon understands the seriousness of hiking during a storm, Audrey does not. Audrey removes her shoe and begins making a foot print in each ant pile she walks past. Her autism prevents her from stopping once she starts. We keep encouraging her to hurry, but she is compelled to press her shoe into each ant pile.
I was pretty stressed out. I said to Landon, "It is Easter Sunday, I can not believe no one is stopping to see if we need help, an old lady walking in the rain with 2 small kids. " Audrey was listening. She thought about what she had seen on cartoons so many times and what the crossing guard does at school, and she ran out into oncoming traffic. She stopped in the middle of the oncoming traffic lane, and put her hand up commanding all oncoming traffic to stop. I screamed and dragged her back to the side of the road. The truck she walked out in front of did stop to ask if we needed help, but I did decline. I finally had service on my phone.
My In-Laws arrive to save the day. A jump start, a ratchet strap across what was left of my hood and I will be damned a flat tire. By the time I got home I was ready to burn the car. I am glad I did not because it is a car that keeps on giving.
David decided to buy me a new battery. When he put it on the horn started to honk and would not stop. Some of you know what that means. I now know also. He put the battery on backwards. The backward battery blew out all interior lights, the air conditioning and heating, and the most important thing in any car driven by a woman with two young kids................MY RADIO. I can no longer drown out the screams from the backseat. He has replaced every fuse and no dice.
To add insult to injury the car still will not start. While I was beating on the posts I broke one of the terminals that connect the car to the battery. My Brother-in-law was a day late, but right on the money.
So when you see a tiburon with a strap across the hood, windows down, kids screaming its me. One bright spot, when i locked up my brakes to keep my hood from totally detaching, I messed up the brakes. If the kids get to loud, I can press the brakes and let the squeal drown them out.