Goodbye, My Trusty Steed

It was Summer 2010 and I was diligently searching for a car. Or a truck, SUV, Jeep, wagon, hatchback...even a minivan. ANYTHING that would replace the untrustworthy 1998 Jetta I was driving. My preference was a Dodge Intrepid in the 2001-2004 range, equipped with the rare 3.5L high-output engine.

Must see! Sunday driver, garage kept!
Previous owner was a wee little granny!

But as the word "rare" implies, there just weren't any 3.5L Intrepids to be found unless I'd settle for a retired police cruiser with 200k miles and a penchant for guzzling oil.

The engine rattles a little...we spent most of the past 198,000 miles chasing
little grannies through corn fields and gravel quarries on Sundays.
They sure knew how to evade capture...but their cars were always in the local Garage.