The Escort and Andy will drive their last mile together sometime this week.
On our way to Madison on New Year's Eve, we both heard odd clicking noises coming from the rear on the passenger side. We pulled over (luckily only 6 miles from home) and Andy got out to look at the car. He came back to report the damage, the rear strut insulators weren't holding, a known potential risk as he did some work on the rear of the car late summer and had some issued bolting the strut insulators back on. I trusted his damage report and did not go out myself to offer a second opinion. NOTE: This is a joke...when it comes to cars I know where the gas goes in and that is about it. :)
Fast forward to this past weekend. Andy was jacking up the car in a typically very sturdy area of the underbody when he realized just how much the car was getting "crispy and crumbly" (this is a quote from him, translating to "hell-ah rusty and flaky") and was bowing slightly downward even on the well supported jacks. Then he started taking the rear apart and realized that the issue was not the strut insulators as he originally diagnosed but rather the whole strut towers were compromised (translation: "busted beyond logical repair").
After 304,087 miles and countless memories in his 1995 Ford Escort, Andy threw in the towel, with dignity, I might add. He purchased the Escort when he was 22 years old right after he graduated from undergrad. The car has been with him through grad school, jobs in Detroit, MI and Conersville, IN. It was the car of our courtship which he drove up to Fond du Lac for dates with me (awwwwww). It was also the car that we then drove around in on our wedding day and a countless other times running errands and visiting family and friends.
Ah, sweet Escort...what great memories you hold for Andy and, in your later years, for me.
May you rest in peace.
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