Clarence, the PT Cruiser

It may be time to say good-bye to Clarence, the automotive love of my life.  Clarence is my 2001 PT Cruiser and well, that boy just rocks. I love that car. He only has 150,000 miles on him and that's not much. And I've always been very diligent about his oil changes and other routine maintenance. (I don't know if anybody remembers this, but he was also the vehicle that had the critters crawling up inside him while he was in the driveway and chewing on his wires. So, for a while, every time I turned around, it seemed that his Check Engine light was on.)

I had driven him the other day and I thought it was hard to shift gears. The clutch seemed OK, but the gears were acting funky. I almost had to slam it into first, then second, and so on. And it was all I could do to put it into reverse. Talked to dear Richard; he thought it just might be a clutch problem as it's the original clutch in the car.

Rick took it into the garage yesterday and the car weenie said it's probably something in the transmission, but he's not sure and he doesn't do much in the way of transmission work.

I drove him into work this morning and it was not pretty. I was really fighting to get through the gears. We're going to have to take him into a tranny garage, I guess, and have them look at him. And get an estimate on how much it's going to cost us. Rick said if it's going to cost too much, we can't do it. And I'll have to let him go.

I have Hannah, our 2012 Hyundai Tucson, so I won't be without a car. But there's always been something about Clarence; he and I have been through 12 good years (not including snow) and I'm really going to miss that boy if I have to lose him. I'd like to keep him if I can, but we'll have to see what he's going to cost us.

Rick always said that when I was 90 years old, Clarence and I would still be tooling around town.

I have put almost $3,000 into my 2005 Subaru Forester in the last year, so I am in the same pickle. One more thing and I am looking for a new one. I always try to balance having no car if this one's in the shop and the monthly payments of a new car. You just get to a point ...

I was always the type to just get a new car. I needed the dependability plus I hated the hassle of arranging the visits to the shop. But I love this car like you love Clarence, so I totally understand.

BTW my daughter has a Tucson and absolutely loves it!

I hope it is a reasonable, quick repair. :cross:

Thanks, guys. I was hoping it was simply lack of hydraulic fluid, but nope. Somebody mentioned that to me and I went out and checked. That's full. A friend of mine said that it's rare for Cruisers to have bad tranny problems; he's thinking it's the clutch going bad. Still means some major dollars.

Ondine, I like my Tucson, too. It's a good little car.

AW poor Clarence.... I know you have talked much about him over the years. Maybe he would like to be part of your garden - a sculpture of sorts?? :lol3:

 Works for me!

(If I have to get rid of him, it's going to hurt. Big time.)

I have a 96 Explorer.  When it goes I swear it will be kept on blocks in the backyard.  I LOVE my truck.  It has been through 2 moves as the sole way of moving stuff and many black Friday stockups(3 in one year...)  Husband got rid of his car due to clutch going(among other things but with the clutch bad it did not make sense to fix anything else).  I think many of us have a spot for our cars.  Now my first car...I could not wait to see that go.
 

I remember how you feel about Clarence. Years ago we had a '71 Chevy Impala that we really loved, and when the time came to say goodbye it was like losing a cherished old friend. i absolutely felt guilty about saying goodbye to that car.

I remember being six or seven when we accompanied my parents to get a new car. My three sisters and I were so excited until we realized "Jezabelle" our 1958 Chevy wagon, was not going home with us! Can you imagine how my parents felt when we all started crying on the way home. We all felt sorry for Jezabelle. My dad finally told us they'd already found her a home with a family with four little girls, just like us.

I know how you feel, Pam! I recently got rid of my 16-year-old Neon ("Sionnach"--means "fox" in Gaelic), and did have a few tears in my eyes when I left it at the dealership. However, that feeling soon passed when I started driving my Subaru ("Valkyrie"--Norse for "chooser of the slain"--yes, my  cars' names are becoming more and more sinister...).  I just love that car!

I know you love your Cruiser, so don't take this personally, but...I don't like them, because I associate them with an abusive jerk of an ex-boyfriend. We dated when they first came out, and he said he wanted one. Every time, even all these years later, I think of that idiot when I see a PT Crusier! 

Any word on Clarence? Do we light a candle? 

I like the idea of adding him to your yard art!  You could add cukes growing from a toilet too. 

Ondine said:

I remember being six or seven when we accompanied my parents to get a new car. My three sisters and I were so excited until we realized "Jezabelle" our 1958 Chevy wagon, was not going home with us! Can you imagine how my parents felt when we all started crying on the way home. We all felt sorry for Jezabelle. My dad finally told us they'd already found her a home with a family with four little girls, just like us.

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  Oh bless your little hearts!!  Too funny!

MargeCat said:

I know how you feel, Pam! I recently got rid of my 16-year-old Neon ("Sionnach"--means "fox" in Gaelic), and did have a few tears in my eyes when I left it at the dealership. However, that feeling soon passed when I started driving my Subaru ("Valkyrie"--Norse for "chooser of the slain"--yes, my  cars' names are becoming more and more sinister...).  I just love that car!

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I felt nothing sentimental for my neon.  I had some fun times in it though!!  But I'm also driving a Subaru now; and yeah...love that car! 

I know, you can turn Clarence into a cat tree!

I don't take it personally when people tell me they don't care for Cruisers....it's totally OK. When it first came out, I thought it was the ugliest car I had ever seen. Then I started thinking it was so ugly it was cute. Then, you know, I rather like those cars. Finally "Oh please, please, please, I want a Cruiser!"  One of my GFs particularly enjoyed telling me that the Cruiser looked like a smooshed-up loaf of bread. She got great delight from constantly reminding me of that. She's a florist and when their delivery vehicle bit the dust, what did her boss buy to replace it? A purple Cruiser! I loved it!

When the Cruiser first came out, they were not readily available in our area. Finally, a local dealer advertised in the paper that he had four Cruisers. One was red and manual. I called the dealer and said, "Don't sell the red Cruiser; I'm on my way now to buy it!" (Not the best way to buy a car....I know that.) Drove into the parking lot and Clarence was right out front. He had no bells and whistles and I didn't want any....he had a moon roof, stick-shift, and AC. Got the key, stuck it in the ignition, and he said, "Howdy! My name is Clarence and I'm your new car!" And I said, "Yes, yes you are!"  Rick has often said that he wishes he would have taken a picture of my face that day.

And the rest is history. I've been madly in love with him ever since. Rick always thought I'd get tired of Clarence. I never did.

No candles yet. Dear Richard is still "thinking about it". He'll do that for a week or two and then we'll talk again.

No cat tree, Jan. My cats love to present us with hairballs and no hairball is touching Clarence!

Ondine, I love your story!! Bless your dad for making sure you all knew that Jezabelle was happy. (Love her name!)

And I love your cars' names, MargeCat!

My GF's husband called me yesterday. He talked to a friend of his who works on transmissions. Guy said it's probably the clutch and it will cost $500 - $600 to fix it. That's a pretty standard price and it's pretty much what I've been hearing from others. Talked to Rick last night and we're going to take him to a transmission guy in town and get an estimate there, too.

Depending on the final estimate, we're going to repair him. He's worth more than that (seriously, I'm not just saying that as he's in pretty good shape), and with the prices even for used car these days, it's worth it to me to get him back on the road. Even should we decide to sell the car, you can't sell it without a clutch.

Oh, goodie!

YAY for Clarence - hopefully he will have nine lives !!! :cross:

Yay Clarence!