Garrett M. Vonk

My car bit the dust last weekend, and though it was not exactly an unexpected occasion, it certainly made me pause for a moment and reflect on what I’ve been through in that car.

My dad and I test drove the Explorer in early August, 1998. The spring of that year, I had been involved in a rollover accident that totaled the beige Explorer I’d been driving for about 4 months. Dad had found an ad in the classifieds and we went down Spalding Rd. to a private seller, a hunter with several big dogs. The windshield had a horizontal crack all the way across the bottom, which the seller explained as a freak occurrence while hunting: “It was really cold outside and we got in and turned the heat on, and it just warmed up too quickly so it cracked.” Sure, my dad and I muttered. Probably more like “I was hitting speed bumps at 65 mph and it just happened.” Dad got behind the wheel, with me in the passenger’s seat and Heather in the back. The funniest moment was when my dad decided to test the brakes. I’d test-driven several cars with him before, so I knew what he was going to do. Heather, on the other hand, was quite surprised when he shouted “BRAKE CHECK!!!” and slammed on the brake pedal at full force going about 40mph. This is, of course, quote a good test of a vehicle’s braking ability, and is often a crucial test to perform when you’re buying a used vehicle for a teenager. Still, I think Heather would have preferred to know it was about to happen.

The Explorer was mine. I’d been through two other vehicles in the 10 months before I got it, so I really had no clue I’d end up driving it for 80,000 miles. For the first six months or so, I was trying desparately to rid the car of the vestiges of the dog that apparently had lived in it with the previous owner. That’s the only explanation for the dog hair that was stuck around the edges of the carpet, that blew out like snowflakes when I turned on the A/C, and that was piled a quarter inch in the cupholders.

Oh yeah, the cupholders.

One day, I will meet the engineers at Ford that designed the cupholders and the armrests on the 89-93 Explorers, and I will have my vengeance. They fit a good number of sizes of drinks; that’s not the problem. It’s what happens to the drinks after you put them in the cupholders and try to drive that’s the problem. Let me see if I can describe this. Unless your cup is 1 inch tall, when you hit the brakes, you are going to lose that cup. It’s going to tumble down onto the floor, possibly bursting open and soaking your carpet, your shoes, and maybe your pant legs in $4 worth of cappucino.

Anyway, the best part about the explorer was its versatility. I drove it to school, I filled it with suitcases and went on a 2700 mile spring break road trip in it, I went camping in it, I drove it to New Orleans, to South Carolina, and to damn near every county in the state of Florida. I’ve slept in the thing a few times, and spilled coffee in it more. I used to crank it up every morning at 6:30 to go to Norcross High School, and for a few months I even picked Heather up on my way. That is, until she got fed up with my inconsistent schedule and asked someone else to drive her.

Here we are in 2-hour freak rush hour traffic at 11 at night in Florida, on Spring Break last year.

Later on the same trip, stuffed to the gills with a week’s worth of luggage.  This was the 2700 mile trip.

This past winter, covered (as much as a vehicle can be covered in Georgia) in snow.

I estimate approximately 3200 hours spent in the Explorer since I got it back in 1998. That would put my average speed for 80,000 miles at 25mph. Hmm, that may be a pretty accurate estimate. That would mean I’ve spent 1.5% of my first 23 years on this planet in that thing. And I’m going to miss it. It’s probably an odd sentiment to see me express, especially for those of you who may know that the vehicle has been giving me problems for so long.

Current state:
Transmission broken
Windshield broken
Headlight knob broken
Air Conditioning knob broken
Driver’s and Left rear power windows broken
Power seats broken
Battery dead
Alternator broken
Leather torn
Upholstery stained

Starting Mileage: 128,833
Ending Mileage: 206,840
Total Miles: 78,007