Did you ever love a car so much you did stupid things for it?

Tonight I found myself underneath Orangie, my awesome Jeep, lying in a puddle in a rainstorm, messing around with his electrical wiring wondering just this.

I am selling Orangie tomorrow to a friend of a friend, who is flying out to drive him across the country to New York, where he will have another exciting chapter.  I wanted the guy to have headlights for the trip, which, ahem, the mechanic was supposed to fix, but didn’t.  So I was trying to track down what I am now going to call ‘the ghost’ — an intermittent electrical short that repeatedly blanks out all of his lights, after about 1 1/2 hours of warmup.  Not handy while driving at night, no, not handy at all.  Especially not handy on a windy road.  Especially not with a trailer.  Especially not the night before you sell the car.

In a rainstorm.

I have done all these things for this car.

I am selling him, because I need to get lean and mean for my upcoming adventure.  I am selling him for a pittance, to a guy who also loves him, because I want to keep him on the road.  I want him to make someone else happy, with his awesome looks, and his pumping sound system, and the crank-down back window with the flip-down tail that’s so good for sleeping under the stars on.  And a roof rack that even I — also built like a truck — can stand on.  Damn Orangie, you fine!!!

Well, having looked for the ghost unsuccessfully, literally well over 35 times, most under extremely stressful, mid-road-trip, side-of-the-road conditions, I don’t know why I thought tonight might be different.  But it was my final chance to send Orangie off proud, so I went ALL-IN.

In a rainstorm.

The ghost won, but not until after a hell of a fight.

Come to think of it, this Jeep was originally owned by a firefighter (hence the bright orange — firefightin’ color).  Its in such great shape because that firefighter was killed in a fire, and his parents couldn’t bring themselves to part with it.  He was garaged for years.  And now 32 years later, he still rides on.

Something tells me that firefighter is still enjoying his ride.

Tomorrow its the mechanic vs. the ghost. Who do you think is going to win?

Safe travels Orangie, you will be missed.

Damn Orangie, you fine!!!

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