How do you say goodbye to a dear and faithful friend who's been part of your life for nearly 20 years? A friend whose gender isn't quite clear. I once had a Hillman Hunter who was called KEN (his number plates made his gender clear). This one, TYG, was a tiger of sorts, but a dependable, comfortable, sensible gender-neutral Toyota Corolla sort of tiger.
It was time to bite the bullet today. Tiger has often refused to start recently, sometimes at rather inconvenient times and places. A failing petrol pump was diagnosed, and for a while now I've been solving the problem by hitting it with a rubber mallet! You've got to be cruel to be kind, but it can only go on for so long, and a fuel pump would cost more than the car was worth.
Here we are setting off on the final journey. Look how many kilometres we've done. Tiger's engine was still basically perfect, and would have happily given me a few hundred thousand more. It was a Toyota Corolla, after all.
I opted to dispose of Tiger cleanly and humanely. I came across a website - https://www.scrapcarrecycling.com.au/ - which offers to locate the best deal in honest and straightforward car wrecking for your particular car. It guarantees (sort of) the price you'll be paid. In this case it was $50 if they collected it, and $300 if I was able to drive it there (across town to Fairfield East). A place in Blacktown was offering $100, so Fairfield East it was.
My previous experiences of car wreckers have not exactly been positive. They're usually rude, slippery crooks in fact. But this seemed entirely different. At this place they were polite and friendly. They made no attempt to renegotiate the deal. They helped me remove the plates, and respectfully whisked my old friend away while I wasn't looking. Much as a tactful funeral director might have done in an upmarket crematorium.
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