Land Yacht

[ehowton]

I have a business trip scheduled this month in Texas. 6-days straight of 18-hour days. As the kids are still on summer vacation, I managed to plan to have them go with me and stay a week with their friends, with the caveat that I would then be bringing the two friends home with me for a week or so afterwards. Which is no problem. Except my Tiburon won't comfortable hold 4, let alone 5. And certainly not all that luggage.

My wife therefore starting reacquainting herself with my clutch. Having grown up with one she does amazingly well, and as she drives very nearly as I do, enjoys taking full advantage of the weight and maneuverability of my vehicle, if not the full range of immediate gears the 5-speed transmission offers over a fully automatic one. The upside also being that she'd save a metric ton of gasoline driving into Wichita every day for her internship. As for me and the kids? We'd be traveling to Texas in style! The Hippo is a beautifully crafted vehicle and is a true joy to take on the open road. "Touring" model and all that.

My wife also steers with her knee, drinks her coffee, brushes her hair, eats breakfast and flosses her teeth - enroute. Its an enormous time-saver performing these numerous tasks while commuting - something she would decidedly NOT be able to do whilst shifting. And honestly, she doesn't have to do these things, but without coffee she's turning my vehicle into a 170-horsepower guided missile, and the clutch is $2000 to replace, an expense I'd rather not incur.

And that's just about the time michelle1963 and suzanne1945 said, "We have this land yacht we need to unload, can you think of ANYONE who might have a use for it?"

I blinked twice, stunned into silence.

My grandafther-in-law Bill, signed it over to us on the 4th of July. He probably won't be requiring it any further :(

Enter the six-seating 2001 Grand Marquis GS with more than enough room to hold my own brood + two, myself, my gear, and their hoard:


I am far too young to be seen driving this car.

Comments

[pcofwildthings.livejournal.com]

Sweet! That will be like driving a living room on wheels.

Moo.

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

I may need a set of steer horns on the hood:

Re: Moo.

[michelle1963.livejournal.com]

Snicker. :D

Re: Moo.

[(Anonymous)]

i want it so sexy i have to have it the cost please

[michelle1963.livejournal.com]

I can vouch ~ Merc travel is comfy travel. My dad had one too. And don't forget the trunk. It's huge. We used to call it a two body trunk. (Yeah, came to think of that way when we lived in Vegas.)

As for it being an old man car..., well it's all in the way you drive it. ;-) My dad drove his 100 mph across southern, rural Kansas, and the Nevada desert. Shhh. Not as zippy as the Tib, but still zippier than many other things on the road.

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

Did your dad have the mud flaps and the pleather tonneau roof? Its all in the details!

[michelle1963.livejournal.com]

Um..., good point! No. :D

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

And hubcaps. Don't forget the hubcaps. The last time I had hubcaps on my car was 1999. Coincidentally also the last time I used US Mint cash, or ink-based writing utensils & dead-tree paper.

So yeah, hubcaps. Did your dad have hubcaps on his car? My guess is, "No."

:P

[michelle1963.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. I believe there may have been hubcaps, but very plain, standard things.

You could take the hubcaps off, and the mudflaps off, but I don't know what to do about the roof.....

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

When I was in Garland before we moved, the project manager told us he brought his dad's "pimpmobile" to fit us all in for lunch that day. We were all very curious. Sure enough, out in the parking lot was a late 90s Buick Park Avenue...with hubcaps, mudflaps and a pleather tonneau roof.

I have no intentions whatsoever to defile that vehicle. It would greatly diminish its character :)

[codekitten.livejournal.com]

you are too young to be seen driving this car!

but...but it looks so *comfortable*...we must be getting old :)

OMH

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

Hrm, I agree. We need rules to identify just this kind of thing - http://ehowton.livejournal.com/450127.html

Re: OMH

[codekitten.livejournal.com]

i think the hat works...you look dashing!

Re: OMH

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

A man walks down the street in that hat, people know he's not afraid of anything."