02/13/98

Eleanor on Wheels

You can't beat Eleanor. She's 11 years old and has been in the family since 1989, when my husband bought her for me on Valentine's Day.

We had gone to an automobile dealership to look at a used stick-shift wagon for the kids' driving lessons and transportation. A test drive proved the wagon was a sluggish beast with barely enough oomph to handle a gentle slope, let alone the Ithaca hills. We imagined our kids coasting backward into somebody's front yard while frantically searching for first gear. When we drove it back onto the car lot, I spied a silver Volvo sedan, its boxy hulk tucked between two aerodynamic compacts.

"Why not take that one for a spin?" I suggested, the safety of our teenagers uppermost in my mind. I had read about the longevity and toughness of Volvos.

"We came here to buy a cheap clunker," Gordon began in protest. "A standard shift student model, remember?"

Before I had a chance to answer, the salesman had ushered me behind the wheel, Gordon's question lingering in the air over the engine's purr. I sank appreciatively into the midnight blue upholstery. What a sweet buggy! Her road test was flawless.

We arranged for an inspection by a local garage mechanic who specialized in servicing Volvos. He could barely contain his enthusiasm. This particular model, the 240DL, he told us, had a simple, well-designed engine which we could reasonably expect to last for 250,000 miles!

Such a survivor deserves a noble name, I thought. "How about Eleanor, in memory of Eleanor of Aquitaine and Eleanor Roosevelt? Yes, Eleanor fits."

We've extracted 160,000 of those promised miles from Eleanor already and she's just getting warmed up. After two teenagers and two collisions, she still doesn't have a scratch on her, but you should see the proverbial "other guy." Any driver who tangles with Eleanor ponders the wreckage of his pathetic junkheap and starts shopping for a "silver tank" of his own.

Everyone treats Eleanor with utmost respect. She has taken care of lots of human treasures, demanded little and given much. She earns her weekly shampoo and vacuum, biannual wax and polish, and regular tune-ups. In some households the family dog gets all the empty nesters' love and devotion. In ours, we cater to Eleanor. She can't stop now. Before long the grandchildren will be clamoring for driving lessons!

Note: Just for fun, take a look at my friend Bob's sunshine-yellow honey ... a labor of love.

Please send questions or comments to bbruno@snet.net.