Although it has now been three years since I traded a 1974 Security motorhome for a 2003 Chevrolet Cavalier (read more about that
here), the final adventure to get the yellow coupe home actually started back in April 2020.
For history's sake, the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak as a pandemic on 11 March 2020.
Needless to say, I stopped using company booked flights as a means of travel between the city I live in and the town I would be working nearby. With the onset of Spring and clearer roads to drive, that was the option I was going to use, until the time comes where flying is safer to my health (I doubt that) or I am no longer sufficiently compensated for "wear and tear" on my own property (more than likely to happen) as a mode of conveyance.
That property just happened to be a 2017 Kia Sportage that I acquired in March 2020.
As a traveling machine, the Sportage has proven to be very comfortable and accommodating, with all the options an owner could want (heated and cooled leather seats, panoramic sunroof, satellite navigation, adaptive cruise control, the list goes on). The only real complaint I have about it is the fuel mileage, but I do believe my heavy foot and the Turbocharged engine are major factors in those results.
Even on the first 1140 kilometer (or 708 miles for you other folks) trip, I would pass by the property, either late in the day going up, early in the morning on the way down, where the Cavalier was sitting....almost waiting for something to happen to it. April became May, then June rolled by and into July, that's when I made the decision to bring the Cavalier home.
First thing's first, would it even come back to life?
The inlaws who were....curating the machine for me plugged in and hooked up a battery charger, but I had made arrangements to buy a new battery. Something told me that three years of just sitting, let alone enduring -40°C (the same as -40°F) winters, the battery in it would be worse the unresectable.
So, out with the old....
....and in with the new.
Getting a new battery was the right call, once a connection was made, the dash lit up and the radio roared loudly to life. Turns out the ignition has a trick to releasing the key and being off (I have since discovered by watching the clock readout on the factory stereo will indicate if I have performed the procedure properly. If it stays on after I open the driver's door, I did it wrong and have to fiddle to fix it).
One saving grace was the fact the Cavalier was parked on a concrete pad, which saved the tires from sucking up moisture from the ground, slowing their decay. A quick check of the fluids after the battery was installed and I turned the key. Vroom, fired up first try and no pumping of the gas pedal (which would have happened if it didn't start).
Yes, you are reading that correctly (or for you other folks, that's 165026 miles).
I was sitting behind the wheel in shock, listening to smoothest running four cylinder engine I have heard in a very long time (recent vehicles I have owned like my Dodge Dart, Mitsubishi RVR and Kia Sportage all produced a ticking while idling, I attribute this to the variable timing technology they all share).
A little hard to tell from this picture, but the interior a bit dusty, but everything was there and serviceable (and much to my surprise, the factory AM/FM/CD Player). However, quite a few "creature comforts" were missing such as no power windows, no air conditioning, no tilt steering, no power seats, no cruise control and so on. In other words, "Old School."
The next chapter of this adventure will be looking through this cracked glass to work, then home....
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