She is 20 years old at the end of the month and she has covered nearly half a million kilometers and it is with great sorrow that I have decided to put her out to pasture. She has been stuck in he big shed now for about 2 years and the last time I saw her she started to complain about a few aches and pains and so I’m afraid to say I don’t know what she will be like when and if I return. 

We first met in 2004 shortly after I bought my first house on the Gold Coast and I believe it was love at first sight. One mistake I made was taking out an extended warranty with Southside Toyota, that’s where we met. Every time I took the car back there for a service they treated her like shit and I nearly had a stroke because of the way they staff there treated me. Up until then I had never come across such incompetence in a company. I remember one altercation with this big fat staff member when I went to pick up the car, he wound me up so much that if I had been in America with my Kalashnikov then he would have been wearing a few bullets that night. I used every expletive known to man and then I dismissed him and told him to get someone that could talk to me, I didn’t want to speak to the monkey anymore. They made me so angry and in hindsight they also treated me with contempt. I could talk about Southside Toyota for weeks but I won’t because it will only make my blood boil once more.

I have many fond memories and I have had many adventures with my trusty steed and I really miss driving around in her. This car has been one of the most comfortable cars I have ever owned. I have had very few problems apart from a head gasket going due to a faulty Chinese made gasket that Ford used to use, mind you we were driving through temperatures of nearly 50c  out near St George.. I replaced the air con and did the usual maintenance but I never had a bump in the car and so it’s as straight as the day I bought it. Maybe when I return and we are reunited I might spend the money to get her back on the road, I shall see what happens when that day arrives. It costs nearly $1000 a year to keep the car registered and at the moment I really just can not afford to pay for the car as the cash flow is not very good, it’s expensive to have a car in Queensland.