Pride Goeth Before a Deflation
For the past 15 years I’ve had a wonderful car. It’s a 2016 Dodge Magnum SRT-8. I purchased it with 7,000 miles on the odometer, and until I owned it, it had never been licensed . The dealership owner had been using the car as his personal transportation using dealer plates. Consequently, it was in perfect condition.
It has been a great car. The SRT-8 moniker indicates it’s one of only about 3800 produced during the entire 4-year model run with the 425-horsepower 6.1-liter hemi V-8. It listed for over $41,000 in 2006, which was a lot back then (and kind of a lot now, too!). Because gas cost a lot back then (around $5 per gallon, which is also kind of a lot now, too!) I was able to purchase the car for only $31,000.
As I mentioned, it has been a wonderful vehicle, giving me virtually no trouble the entire time I’ve owned it. So why am I selling it? Simple. It is 16 years old, has 118,000 miles on it, and looks and runs great. All three of those points makes now a good time to pass it on to someone else who will, with any luck, treasure it as much as I have.
Since I needed to get a new car before I sell the Magnum, I began to consider what type of car I would like to purchase.
I considered the Tesla Plaid since it is one of, if not the, fastest production car (zero to sixty) produced for consumer use, but I’m worried our electric grid won’t be able to support all the charging necessary once more people begin owning electric cars. Plus, Teslas don’t have that glorious internal-combustion sound!
BMWs are nice, but for the most part don’t stand out in the styling department.
Mercedes are good cars, but very expensive to maintain once the warranty expires. As one can tell by the fact my Magnum is 16 years old, I tend to hold on to my vehicles for a long time.
Back in 2006 I owned a Cadillac Seville STS which I consider to be the nicest car I’ve ever owned. It was fast (for its day), attractive, and very, very comfortable.
I decided to get another Cadillac. It would, however, need to be a very fast Cadillac.
I generally recommend people buy cars which are one or two years old rather than ponying up the cash to buy new. These days, however, the price of used cars has gotten so high it makes sense to compare the cost of a used vehicle to the price of a new one. It may be a new car is actually a better buy, all things considered.
What I hadn’t considered was the car I wanted, the new Cadillac CT5 Blackwing, is very difficult to get. The salesperson I spoke with said I might have to wait a year or more. All the online offers I pursued turned out to be fake: “I’m sorry, that car is already presold.”
“Presold? Then why did you advertise it as if I could buy it?”
“I’m sorry, sir, that’s just how the system works…”
I decided to see if I could find one of the last of the CTS-V models (manufactured in 2019). I wouldn’t have to wait as long, there would still be some factory warranty remaining, and the 2019 model is only .01 second slower to 60 than the 2022 Blackwing and has the same top speed (an asphalt-scorching 200 mph).
After scouring the internet I found one in a beautiful shade of blue. It was located in Illinois. The car only had 8,600 miles on the clock and was selling for about 15% less than it’s price new, which these days seemed like a bargain.
I paid a firm to do an inspection to be sure I wasn’t getting a blue lemon, and the car passed with flying colors. I found a shipping company, convinced the auto dealership to split the shipping cost with me, and I sent them a cashier’s check for the purchase.
I don’t care how non-materialistic a person might be, there is something about buying a new car, even a new, used car, which elicits a swelling of pride in one’s chest. When the truck arrived and unloaded my new car, I was thrilled, and might I say, quite proud.
At the time, I just wasn’t thinking about the old adage which warns how pride goeth before something-or-other.
Three days later I was on my way to visit my mom, and pick up my mother-in-law and my wife’s aunt for what was supposed to be a wonderful Mother’s Day brunch.
Mother’s Day is nice and all, but the main thing on my mind was that I couldn’t wait to show off my fancy new car!
As I sped down I-5 enjoying the sun and my lush (and very fast) new steed, I suddenly felt a slight jolt, followed by an ominous beeping sound.
I glanced at the fully-electronic dashboard, and in all its digital glory it informed me my rear, driver’s-side tire had exactly zero air pressure.
I immediately pulled over to assess what had happened. It turned out there was a nail (or some other pointy object) on the freeway, and my rear tire had experienced the pointy-object’s wrath.
I first tried to use the little electric air pump I found in the trunk, but the goop which is supposed to be forced into the tire to seal the leak wasn’t cooperating. Not only that, the hole was so large even an industrial-sized air tank wouldn’t have done any good.
I called AAA and with their typical efficiency came to the rescue. It only took them three hours to get there.
Allow me a moment to tiptoe into the political arena. If the government didn’t have their stupid gas-mileage-efficiency rules, car manufacturers would probably still include spare-tires in their cars (the weight-savings of deleting a spare tire gives a miniscule increase in average mpg). If I had a spare, I probably would have been on my way in 15 minutes.
I missed the brunch, which was painful. What hurt most, however, was my chest deflating as the pride evaporated faster than air leaking from a punctured tire.
Sometimes it takes a situation such as this to expose just how prideful I can be. I think when things such as this occur, it’s God’s way of keeping us humble.
God helping me to become a better person? I’ll never tire of that.
