Car crisis, Part 3: Return of the Saturn

Talking through my decision about car repairs in my previous post helped convince me to go ahead and pay for the repairs rather than commit to buying a newer car, which I realized would cost more than my need for it would justify. So the morning after that, I called the frame repair guy and gave him the go-ahead for the repair. Yesterday (Monday) afternoon, he told me it was ready, but I was in the middle of writing a scene and it was raining, so I waited until this morning to go pick it up.

I had to take the bus, of course, and I hope it was well-ventilated, since the ride was nearly half an hour (I wore a cloth mask, but the windows wouldn’t open). The shop was way up Vine Street, and as the bus was going through parts of town I rarely visited, I wondered if the shop was in an area I’d ever been to. But then, suddenly I recognized the corner of Paddock & Vine and realized I was in the area of the retirement home where my father lived for a time at the end of his life. The frame shop was literally right next door to the Kroger supermarket and fuel center that I’d frequently visited during that period. Odd that I missed that when I checked Google Street View this morning. I hadn’t realized it because I usually got up there and back via Paddock & Reading Road instead of Vine (and I used that more familiar route to drive home today). It’s a slightly longer route, but if I recall right, it’s a bit faster due to higher speed limits and a wider road.

At my request, the frame mechanic drove the car onto the lift so I could see the repairs, and they look pretty solid. He told me that he inserted a metal tube vertically around the bolt whose connection to the subframe was weakened by the rust, welding it to the bolt and the frame to reinforce the connection. He also welded plates over the rusted parts, then sprayed the whole thing with a black rust-inhibitor coating. It looks pretty solid, and the mechanic was confident that my car would last indefinitely, saying it was an excellent car that was in good shape and worth keeping forever. It’s encouraging that he’d say that even after he offered to buy the car from me last week; that implies a lack of an ulterior motive.

The car handled okay on the drive back, though mechanics always move the driver’s seat back and it’s hard to remember where I had it; as usual, I put it one slot too far back, then realized it mid-drive and had to wait for a stop light to scoot forward one more notch (and I got a lot of green lights along the way). There was a moment on a curve where I went over a sewer grate or something and there was a worrying clang of impact from the front passenger side where the repairs were done, but when I got home, I took a phone video of the subframe to check, and it looked as intact as it had in the shop. I guess the clang was just from the grate I drove over. I figured it was, but of course I’m paranoid enough that I had to check.

I still need to take the car back to my main garage for the fuel leak and other repairs, and they don’t have an opening until Friday. But it’s a chance to get a second opinion about the frame repair. I hope my regular mechanic is as sanguine about the quality of the repair, and the continued viability of my Saturn, as the frame guy was. If he is, then I won’t have to worry about renting a car for Shore Leave.

That’s a bit disappointing, actually, since it would’ve been nice to try out a more modern, computerized car. But on the other hand, I’ve never driven another car since high school, so I wonder about the safety of driving an unfamiliar car whose performance I’m not used to. Anyway, it now looks like I won’t have to.