The Grand Am won't pass inspection, and so it is time to bid farewell to a car that has always been in my family. My family wondered if it would make it through medical school (it's a 1993 car, and I graduated in 2006). Well, it made it through the first two years of residency, including drives from SLC to Tucson, and the following year to Houston (even if each of the drives the car died).
On the way to Tucson I was headed out of Flagstaff and broke down about 50 miles away. I had to call a tow company that took 5-6 hours as I recall to come, because there was a large crash involving a semi that used up the town's towing capacity, and had disrupted traffic. I was not happy after sitting in the Arizona desert for a few hours in June, without a significant amount of water. (Turns out a radiator hose blew, and then sprayed all over the alternator and killed it.)
On the Houston drive, I found that if I tried to sustain a speed more than 60 or 65 mph that my car would give up and I'd have to pull off. (Not a fun way to travel through west Texas).
