My Ghetto Car

So, as you probably know, I often have more than my fair share of problems with my car, Blue. It seems that just when one problem is repaired another one pops up.

Lately I have had a lot of problems with getting my car out of park. As most of you probably have to do with your car, I have to place my foot on the brake and shift from park to reverse or to drive or whatever. You know what I’m talking about I’m sure. Back in December I had the oil changed and also had a headlight and reverse light replaced. During that process while the car engine was off, I had to put my foot on the brake and put the car in reverse so the guys could see if the bulb was replaced correctly. It was after this little adventure that I started having the problem with moving the car from park.

The problem got better for a while and I figured out some tricks to help the process along. For whatever reason, late this past week the problem got worse and I had a really difficult time getting the car out of park. The problem is the lever on the gear shift would not push in, it gets stuck and won’t budge. Friday was a real pain and Saturday morning it became much worse.

I managed to get it in drive and go to my haircut appointment; but, when I was ready to leave, I couldn’t get it to budge. Finally about 10 minutes or so later I was able to put it in drive and head to Publix. After my grocery trip, I had the same problem and finally managed to get it in drive and head over the mountain to Mr. Donut. There, I left the car in drive and put on the emergency brake and discovered that I could move it in to park to turn on the ignition and as long as I didn’t take my finger off the lever, I could move it back into drive, reverse, etc. (Is this story making any sense?)

Anyway, I went to my parents house and then to the Publix in Hampton Cove to get some bread (my first stop I didn’t’ get any bread because it wasn’t baked yet) and I had to take the keys out and put it in park. Well, when I got back to the car, I couldn’t get it to budge out of park. I had to call my dad and as he was on his way, I finally got it out of park – 22 minutes after my first try. I ended up duct taping the lever and so far it has worked in allowing the car to go from park to reverse or park to drive. Hopefully it will work for a good long while because I really don’t have the funds to have this little problem repaired.

So, that’s the latest story about Blue, my ghetto car. Maybe one day I’ll have the Volvo station wagon I’ve always dreamed of and it will work without fail. Here’s to hoping!