Airing my Philthy Laundry

Childhood imagination manifested in adult bodies (AKA: The best day of my Life)

Many of the faithful readers of Philthy Laundry were around to witness, what I can only describe as one of the best days of my life. For those of you not privileged enough to be present at this event...let me give you a little background information.

While I was in college, I had a 1989 Chevy Cavalier that was not in the best shape. (Keep in mind I was in college from 1999-2003, so this was not a new vehicle) It usually got me to point B from point A with little complications. I say usually, because there was a point in the life of this wonderful vehicle where it would just putter out and die several times while driving down the busiest roads of Champaign, IL. I can't imagine what caused this damage to this vehicle...first of all it was American made...so you know the quality was top notch. It could have been running up on curbs around the U of I campus to scare pedestrians on the sidewalks, or running into dumpsters for comedic value, but I doubt it.

Come the end of my senior year, the problems with the car were getting exponentially worse, and I had determined that even if this car could make it the two hours back to my parents home after graduation, it certainly wouldn't suit me well to take it to my new career in Chicago. So after careful deliberation, I determined that the only thing to do was fulfill my childhood dream of owning a convertible. "Oh so you went out and bought a new convertible for yourself for graduation," you're probably asking yourself. Not even close. Since my income was limited, (read: I made enough money in college to buy food, beer, and not much else. And one only has so much plasma to donate for $20 a pop) the only thing to do was to turn the Cavalier that had given me so much enjoyment the past 3 years into a convertible by cutting the top off with a giant saw. I phoned my father to let him know of my plans, and since it was technically his car, to ask permission. It was his enthusiastic affirmative response that permanently catapulted him into "Greatest Dad Ever" status.
It was, to my knowledge, one of the only literally "converted" convertibles in the US. I gathered a group of gentlemen from my fraternity, along with the local campus newspaper for the transformation which is what you will witness here:


This car served me well for my last 4 days on campus, from going to the movies to bars, until it finally died in the parking lot of the freshman dorms while trying to offer my help to the kiddies and their parents who were moving out of the dorms.

The day after graduation I sold this car to a junkyard for $15.

posted by philthy @ 6:33 PM