Buick Roulette (for Roadiem)

When people think of their coming of age, they always think of their first. The heat, the smells, the pure feeling of freedom. It was rebellion from their parents, but still true love in all of it's torments and spell binding pleasure.

My first was Al. He was older but comfortable. I didn't want him at first, but I grew to love him. He became my confidant, my true friend, the one who drove me to insanity and back. After four years, we had to separate. He became unreliable, always deserting me when I needed him most. He had his problems, sure, but he was mine and I shall always hold him in my fondest memories.

Al was a 1981 Buick Skylark. Purchased for $250, my first car far exceeded all of expectations.

5 years later, I can list all of the problems that Al and I went through together better than I can recite them from any broken relationship. The radiator leaked. The fabric over the ceiling hung down, something I fixed with 200 black thumb tacks, and a few artistically placed silver ones. There was a rip on the driver's side seat. There was a scratch in the windshield from a rock stuck in my boot on a chilly evening at the drive in. The space for the radio was too small to put a standard cassette deck in it. The power steering went out randomly, usually when turning right. On one frosty Christmas Eve, the axle broke. The gas gauge swung back and forth as I drove, making it a guessing game as to when I needed fuel. Later there was an oil leak and the alignment was bad off. The parking break worked, sort of.

This may sound like an awful lot, but the car was over ten years old when I got it, and 15 when I finally could not drive it anymore. And I gave the car absolute hell during those four years.

Summer days were spent driving about the midwest with friends, strangers, dogs, contraband, all sorts of things that are toted around the car of a wild 19 year old. Our destination would be Columbus, Lexington, or anywhere in between. My friends and I reveled in the summer heat-- though the car was bought with air conditioning, I never once tried to see if it worked. The wind blowing through the technocolored hair of me and 7 of my closest friends, we went to our strange and happy destinations with the oldies station blaring on the radio. Al was youth, joy, freedom.

When the cops would come around the strip to catch kids loitering, they knew they would always find safety from tickets and being run about by sitting on the hood of my car. Sometimes I wondered if my car wasn't better liked and known than I was. Still, people walk up to me and ask, "Do you still have Al?"

There were some great things about the car that are often over looked. Reliable? Resmiable. These are things I will always look for in a car. It had a built in cup holder. The back seat was big enough that you could have sex in it comfortably. Okay, maybe not comfortably, but it was sure better than doing it in a Toyota. The heater was almost instantaneous, and was very, very hot. I called it "A little piece of hell of my very own." The seats were very comfortable. The trunk was huge. The metal thing that you attached a ski rack to was not only sleek looking, but also acted as a gutter, keeping the rain from coming in a partially opened window. The ashtray was HUGE.

After I had my baby, Al started becoming unreliable. There was a short somewhere, and sometimes the car would just not start. I started calling him Buick Roulette. You can go somewhere, but you can't always get back. I took him to multiple garages, and they all said that he was unfixable. Sadly, I sent my car off to be used as parts.

I can't possibly explain how I feel about this car. At least I can't without all of you thinking I'm off my rocker. It was like he had personality. I talked to him. I bribed him when I feared I wouldn't make it to the next gas station. I leaned against the steering wheel and cried and cried when life was starting to go bad. When giving someone a ride, I would introduce him by name. It was all in fun, and others even said that Al had the coolest personality of any car they ever knew.

This epinion was written in loving memory of Mike Lambert, who is known around here as Roadiem. I don't do justice to his fabulous auto reviews, so maybe you should go check them out! As part of the Roadiem write off, all earnings from this review will go to his family. Other participants are bjcuevas, naphtalia, seether166, sherrylee, mattjoe, viper1963, gollygumdrops, noniaBidnis, nightshade_01, obnox, hawkseafan, yyvonne, diverpam, t-hall, mtuairau, jennifa, pperky1954, hnnygrlca, rcknrbn3, midoyle, charlenep, lattechick, garfield12, bgoodday, chrisceb, alwaysstubborn, nwinston, hirohito99, sweetcece, theworm, ginahill, jpmcgurk, tiffer0220, juliette, elorraine, imames, pipet, sparkospunky, disartain, linda527, lisa_j, lgcurcio, kristinafh, tgreenway, pambo, friskycelery, tjarnold, i_culookn, todd, teddiec, darbywalters, wolfman309, emeleel, joubert, technologyrep, gamblinfamily, smithwoodside, daturawest, angelmommy, liberator76, hadassahchana, lark729_89, missy32, blonbabydawn, bryrose, merlot & ladyvamp