Well, there was no turning back. The Chrysler 300M we used as trade bait was towed. Towed by the dealer to a salvage yard. Thinking I could get one final look at that car and seeing if anything of 'value' got left behind like kids toy or stowaway 'M & M's in the center pocket I was disappointed to learned that when they matched up the Vin number of the car with their list our car, the one that faithfully brought our kids to school morning after morning and the car that took us on excursions had been crushed.
CRUSHED. Such a painful ending for something we treated like a family member.
CRUSHED. I was hoping the dealer might have found a kindly old mechanic who loved the thought of putting a little labor of love into 'our' car for one of his grandchildren.
CRUSHED: I was picturing this car being nurtured back to life with a newer used engine and sold to another family at a far away car dealership.
I remember clearly the day I saw that Chrysler 300M. Spring time 2002. It was shiny white and glistened on the small car lot in Eden Prairie beside highway 169. The car had that new car smell with it's black leather interior and the car of the year sticker on the back side window. The smell of leather and the sweet aroma of music wafting from the upgraded speakers was enough to 'sell' the car to my wife.
CRUSHED: My younger kids at the time loved it because they could easily climb into the car without assistance from mom or dad.
Once the paperwork was signed and the loan was approved the 300 M became our car. Memories of our car began accumulating like the interest on the money in the mutual fund.
Car sales managers told me that there are a lot of emotions when someone trades their car. Like watching a movie they retrace every scene they had with that car. Car managers tell me that people hang onto their cars longer than they should.
The question becomes, should I toss good money to fix a old car when eventually the car will die, or would I better off trading it for something of value?
Like a movie trailer I watch the scenes of our car over again believing we could have just a few more years with this trusted 'family' member who gave us so many memories.
Hearing those words 'your car was crushed yesterday' was akin to hearing the doctor say 'we couldn't save her'.
CRUSHED: The finality of those words with no turning back.
A car is not a person, but yet still conjures up similar emotions; especially when that car was the last connection you had with the memory of the child who died.
Memories you struggle to hang onto. Memories you hope would never end like a train getting smaller in the horizon before disappearing.
Finally, I asked the Salvage yard owner what happens to cars that had been crushed? He said they are placed on a flatbed and sent to a company that makes rebar and then he a added ' some day your car will become the supports in a new building or bridge as though that would give me comfort.
CRUSHED. Time to say goodbye and create new memories with the next car, or as my really young son once said to one of our other cars that faced the same demise 'bye bye car'.
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