Dynasties are great.

I absolutely love my car. It's a 1988 Dodge Dynasty, and I will be the saddest girl alive when ol' girl finally dies. She's not pretty, and she's what Jacob refers to as "rode hard and put away wet". She also celebrated her 21st birthday this year--we're both products of the 80s, and call me old or deluded or whatever, but cars AND kids were made better back then. In terms of reliability, I'd put her up against any new car today.

Slowly but surely, non-essential components of the car have gone out. I fried the electrical system once trying to jump a dead battery (dumb me), and the radio and odometer haven't worked since. She's perpetually stuck at 98,231 miles, although now I'm sure it's about 110K. The old freon a/c quit working one summer and started shooting white powder out of the vents at me. The back left window doesn't roll down, and the fabulous 80s fake wood grain that decorate the insides are beginning to come unglued. The ceiling fabric began hanging down one summer, and I spent 2 hours one day pinning it with straight pins to give it the effect of a mattress. (Someone once commented that it looked like something on Pimp My Ride... I wouldn't go that far, but I pinned it in '04 and it's still intact in '09. Just sayin'.)

Despite all her imperfections, this is the same vehicle whose good condition always makes mechanics marvel. Her transmission is purring along perfectly, and has been since I was 6 years old. Our other car, an '02, needed a brand new transmission in '07. Just this year, her 21yr old muffler developed a hole. Our 7yr old car needed a new one at the same time. The same window is also broken on our '02 that broke on my car, in addition to the '02s sun roof. The radio in our '02 also quit working, and its electrical system was never fried by its stupid owner.

Dodge Dynasties were only made from '88-'93. So sad. My car makes me think of the old Aaron Tippin country song:

"The older she gets the slower we go
But there ain't nothin' wrong with the radio
She needs a carburetor, a set of plug wires
She's ridin' me around on four bald tires
The wipers don't work and the horn don't blow
But there ain't nothin' wrong with the radio..."

Okay, so it has fuel injection and the radio DID get fried. But there 'ain't nothing wrong' with parts that matter. She keeps trucking along, past the young cars of my friends and family as they sit in repair shops. Jokes about her looks are fine--she's beautiful in the inside--which is ultimately what counts for cars. :o)