Magic Smoke

I’ve been thinking it might be time to let the Volvo go.

The poor old thing gets hardly any use. I have the Ural for fun, the Clarity for daily use, and the pickup for hauling & towing. The Volvo comes out when I get itchy to drive a manual transmission, or when it occurs to me that I should see if it will still start.

Spoiler: it always does.

I was keeping it around mainly so Kiddo could learn to drive a clutch, and because it isn’t costing anything.

Then the trouble started. On two different occasions the throttle stuck wide open on the highway. This wasn’t a problem for me, but it’s not acceptable for training the teenager. I figured it would resolve with use, much like a sticky parking brake.

Next the tailpipe fell off. Just the end of it. I’d have to fix it before the next state inspection, but it wasn’t really a problem.

Selling it seemed like a good idea. I only paid $1800 for it four years ago, so I could probably recoup most of my ‘investment.’

I took it on a hardware store run the other day and stopped at Dunkins. When I came back to the car it failed to start for the first time ever. I turned the key; not even a click. Everything else worked, so it wasn’t the battery. On the second try, a small puff of smoke came out from under the hood.

I rushed out and opened the hood thinking, “Oh crap, it’s on fire!”

Two minutes later I was thinking, “Crap, it’s not on fire.”

It sits forlornly in the corner of the yard where the AAA ramp truck deposited it. The starter needs a new supply of magic smoke, and the parts alone are $300. I could spend $500 to make a $1000 car road worthy, just so I could sell it.

Or I could call the SPCA and donate it away. Decisions, decisions. . .